PIERRE    GARAT 


aa  s 


PIERRE    GARAT 

SINGER    AND    EXQUISITE 

HIS    LIFE   AND    HIS    WORLD 

(1762— 1823) 


BY 

BERNARD    MIALL 


WITH    35    ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW    YORK 

CHARLES    SCR1BNERS    SONS 

597-599    FIFTH    AVENUE 


(All  rights  reserved) 


ML 


NOTE 

SOME  thirty  or  forty  writers  of  the  Revolutionary 
period  make  passing  mention  of  a  strange,  brilliant 
figure,  who  by  his  artistry  in  his  own  person,  as 
a  singer  of  romances  and  a  leader  of  fashion,  won 
a  place  unique  in  his  world.  After  his  death  a  few 
contemporaries  wrote  obituary  notices  or  brief 
memoirs,  and  a  Frenchman  has  written  his 
biography. 

I  have  tried  from  those  passing  glimpses  which 

^   the  letters  of  his  time  afford,  aided— let  me  acknow- 

v    ledge    the    debt— by   the    Garat  of    M.    Lafond,    to 

^s   reconstruct   his    image   for    English    readers.      He 

^    was  not  a  person  of  any  political  importance,  but 

^    his   was   a   figure   unique   in  a   strange   period  ;    it 

^     is   impossible  that   we   should   look   upon   his   like 

again.     He  was  an  egoist,  and  an  egoist  is  often 

3^  interesting,   because   we   are   all   egoists ;    he    was 

y     a  lover,  and  a  very  sincere,  fine  artist ;    a  gay  and 

gallant   figure,   full   of   courage   and   the   pride   of 

life.     If  in  my  endeavour  to  show  him  as  he  walked 

5 


Note 

his  world  I  have  at  times  said  overmuch  of  that 
world,  and  allowed  the  image  of  the  man  to  grow 
dim,  it  is  that  the  material  to  be  used  is  scanty, 
out  of  all  proportion  to  the  stir  my  hero  made 
when  alive. 

BERNARD   MIALL. 

Ilfracombe, 
June,  1913. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER   I 

BOYHOOD   AND    HOME   LIFE 

The  legend  of  Garat — His  origin — The  Venice  of  the  Atlantic — 
The  Basques — Why  mountaineers  are  given  to  dance  and 
song  —  Ustaritz  —  The  Garat  family — The  Parliament  of 
Bordeaux — Garat's  father — The  Garat  brothers — Birth  of 
Garat — The  musical  foster-mother — Schooldays — Illness  and 
home  life ........       15 

CHAPTER   II 

TWO   SOUTHERN    CAPITALS 

The  city  of  Bordeaux — Its  Parliament — The  tone  of  its  society 
in  Garat's  boyhood — Young  on  Bordeaux — The  theatre — 
The  luxury  of  its  citizens — Barbezieux — Prosperity  of 
Guyenne — No  reason  why  Garat  should  be  a  Republican — 
At  Ustaritz — Basque  dances  and  ballads — Garat  at  Bayonne 
— Young  on  Bayonne  and  Beam — The  return  to  Bordeaux 
— Musical  studies  :  Beck — The  Opera — Garat's  real  musical 
training — His  first  audiences — He  is  to  be  a  lawyer  .       36 

CHAPTER   III 

THE  YOUNG  MAN  FROM  THE  COUNTRY 

To  Paris — Why  Garat  did  not  become  an  actor — Paris  in  1782 — 
A  nation  of  idlers — Sensation  caused  by  Garat's  talents — 
Paris  gossip  :  Aeronautics  ;  Mesmer  ;  Cagliostro — The  golden 
age  of  France — Society  in  1782 — How  Paris  amused  itself — 

7 


Contents 


PAGE 


The  Opera  ;  the  Palais-Royal ;  the  Tuileries ;  the  Champs 
Elysees,  etc. — Longchamps — Dancing — Garat  in  society — 
His  success — To  meet  the  Queen — The  concert  in  the 
Invalides ........       59 


CHAPTER   IV 

AT   COURT — EARLY   ADVENTURES 

To  Versailles — He  sings  before  the  Queen — All  doors  open  to 
him — De  Vaudreuil ;  La  Borde  and  la  Borde  ;  the  financiers  ; 
Grimod — Mme.  Vigee  Le  Brun  ;  the  evenings  at  the  Palais- 
Royal  ;  her  supper-parties  ;  Talma ;  Azevedo  —  Saint- 
Georges — Garat  forsakes  the  law — The  Roman  father — Garat 
without  resources — The  Queen  to  the  rescue — Garat  given  a 
sinecure  at  Court — The  Italian  singers — Garat's  admiration 
for  Gluck — The  musical  arbiter  of  Paris 

CHAPTER   V 

THE   EDUCATION    OF   A   DANDY 

The  education  of  a  dandy — The  psychology  of  dandyism — He 
becomes  a  leader  of  fashion — A  day  in  Garat's  life  :  the 
Palais-Royal ;  the  toilet  ;  a  morning  in  Paris  ;  at  the  Opera  ; 
the  Trianon — Expenses  of  life  in  Paris — Debt — A  new 
sinecure — Garat  seeks  his  father's  forgiveness — The  Roman 
parent's  reply — The  psychology  of  vicarious  asceticism — 
Two  kinds  of  parasites  ...... 

CHAPTER    VI 

THE   END   OF   THE   OLD    PARIS.      A   VISIT   HOME 

Garat  and  the  theatre — The  Italian  singers — Mozart — Garat's  first 
concerts — Society   in    Paris    before    the    Revolution  —  Its 
morality  —  "  Sensibility  "  —  Cagliostro  —  Freemasonry  — 
Manner  and  manners — More  Parisian  gossip — Garat  visits 
Bordeaux — Beck — The  benefit  concert — A  reconciliation — 
The  end  of  a  period      ...... 

3 


Contents 

CHAPTER   VII 
THE   REVOLUTION 


PAGE 


The  end  of  the  old  world — The  Revolution — How  Jacobins  were 
made — Garat  rejects  the  new  ideas — How  different  specta- 
tors saw  different  aspects  of  the  Revolution  :  Morris  ;  Mme. 
Le  Brun  ;  Mine.  Junot — The  Assembly  weakens — Mob  rule 
— The  alteration  in  manners — The  Terror — Paris  unsafe — 
Garat  is  left  penniless — He  sings  for  a  living — Why  he  was 
not  a  Jacobin — The  effect  of  his  training  on  i  his  character 
— Life  in  Paris  during  the  Revolution — Garat  in  the  salons — 
The  tragedy  of  Mme.  de  Sainte-Amaranthe — Mme.  de 
Beauharnais         .......     140 


CHAPTER  VIII 

FLIGHT   FROM   PARIS 

Paris  becomes  dangerous — Marat  at  the  house  of  Talma — Garat 
risks  his  head — O  Richard,  O  tnon  roi ! — Garat  arrested 
— He  sings  himself  free — He  leaves  Paris  for  Rouen — 
Mme.  Dugazon's  courage — The  stage  during  the  Terror — 
Charles  IX — The  Ami  des  lois — The  escape  of  the  Comedians 
— The  stage  after  the  Terror— The  nobility  of  the  noblesse 
— The  simple  life — Causes  of  emigration        .  .  .     164 

CHAPTER    IX 

MUSIC   AND   THE   TERROR 

Hard  times — Garat  and  Rode  in  Rouen — A  haven  of  refuge — 
Social  life  among  the  refugees — Garat  and  Mile,  du  Hamel 
— The  first  concerts — Boieldieu — The  King's  death — Further 
concerts — Difficulties — Mile,  de  Roussellois — More  concerts 
— Punto — Mme.  de  Chastenay— Figures  in  Rouen  society — 
Further  concerts — A  stormy  scene — The  Terror  in  Rouen— 
Louchet  and  Legendre — Lambert — The  law  of  suspects — 
The  prisons  fill — Garat  arrested— Imprisoned  in  Saint-Yon 
— Lacroix — Life     in    prison — Garat    penniless—  Rode    and 

9 


Contents 


PAGE 


Boieldieu  to  the  rescue — The  "  benefit  "  concert — Garat  the 
life  of  his  prison — The  Troubadour — Who  was  the  mysterious 
rival  ? — Thermidor  and  release — More  concerts — The  pri- 
soners' banquet  .  .  .  .  .  .  185 

CHAPTER   X 

PASTURES   NEW 

After  release — More  concerts — The  Troubadour — Commercial  and 
social  stagnation — Famine — Garat  and  Rode  decide  to  visit 
England — Difficulty  of  leaving  France — The  voyage — They 
land  in  Hamburg — France  in  Hamburg — Concerts — The 
young  Lafond — Holland,  Belgium,  England — The  return  to 
Paris         .  .  .  .  .  .    -  .     216 

CHAPTER   XI 

THE    NEW   PARIS 

Paris  after  the  Terror — A  city  up  to  auction — Changes — Wealth 
and  poverty — The  passing  of  a  civilization — The  new  society 
of  the  Directoire — "  At  home  out  of  doors  " — Paris  keeps 
carnival — A  world  of  young  people — Garat's  welcome  to  the 
new  Paris — He  becomes  the  "  rage  " — Princely  fees — The 
new  salons  :  Tallien,  Barras,  the  financiers,  etc. — The  Mus- 
cadins — The  Concert  Feydeau — Garat's  apotheosis — Garat 
gets  his  queue  cut  off — The  king  of  dandies — Garat  satirized 
— Riot  in  the  theatre — Garat  repeats  his  foreign  triumphs     .     223 

CHAPTER   XII 

PROFESSOR   OF   SINGING   AND   THE    MODE 

More  concerts — Garat  at  rehearsals — The  idol  of  Paris — Feminine 
pursuit  of  Garat — Longchamps  restored — Garat  the  pattern 
of  Muscadins — The  men  of  the  paole  d'honneu — The  respon- 
sibilities of  a  dandy — Garat's  appearance — His  unpunctuality 
— At  Mine.  Junot's — His  sincerity  as  an  artist — An  inspira- 
tion— The  Conservatoire — Garat  becomes  a  professor — He 
bids  farewell  to  the  platform— The  night  of  the  "  Infernal 
Machine  "—Garat's    last    public  appearance — Garat   at    the 
Opera       ........     247 

IO 


Contents 


CHAPTER   XIII 
A   CHANGING   WORLD— A   LOVE   AFFAIR 


PAGE 


The  society  of  the  Consulate — A  changing  world — Garat's  rela- 
tions with  the  new  rulers — Malmaison  ;  Talleyrand  ;  Mme.  de 
Montesson — Garat  and  Napoleon — Mme.  Recamier — Lucien 
Bonaparte — Garat  at  the  Tuileries — He  is  decorated — 
Napoleon's  favour  lost — Garat's  salary  is  withheld — Jose- 
phine ;  Mme.  Saint-Jean  d'Angely — Mme.  Tallien ;  Mme. 
Junot ;  Jaubert — Garat's  affair  with  Mme.  de  Kriidener — Her 
early  life — Her  third  visit  to  Paris — 'She  meets  Garat — Her 
public  worship  of  the  singer — He  snubs  her — Valerie — An 
inspired  Press  agent — Napoleon  snubs  her — Saint,  confessor 
to  a  Tsar,  and  evil  genius  of  Napoleon  .  .  .     268 


CHAPTER   XIV 

A   LOVER   OF   WOMEN 

Garat  the  lover — The  psychology  of  fickleness — The  cry  of  the 
race — Garat  the  slave  of  impulse — Mme.  Dugazon — Mile. 
Roussellois — The  morals  of  the  Directoire — The  Duchesse 
de  Fleury  and  her  lovers — In  prison — Andre  Chenier — 
Maltia  Garat — Mme.  de  Bellegarde — Garat's  children  :  their 
history — Lesser  loves — Mile.  Duchamp  .  .  .     300 


CHAPTER   XV 

THE   SINGER   AND   WRITER   OF   SONGS 

The  old   romances  of   the  ancien   regime  and   the   Directory — 
Music  during  the  Revolution — Garat  as  singer  of  romances 
— Garat  as  composer — Other  composers  whose  songs  he  sang 
— His   manner   of    singing    them — A    great    teacher — His 
theories  and  methods — His  pupils — Fabry  Garat — An  anec- 
dote :    "  Roubespierry   the    upright    man " — Garat's    other 
brothers  and  his  sister  .  .  .  .  .  .     319 

II 


Contents 


CHAPTER   XVI 
THE   RESTORATION — THE   END 

PAGE 

The  Restoration — Old  friends — Garat's  journey  to  the  south — The 
approach  of  age — The  old  age  of  the  beau — The  tragedy  of 
the  old  singer — The  surrender  to  Time — Last  years — Gerard  ; 
Kalbrenner — The  Conservatoire — The  desire  of  immortality 
— Mile.  Duchamp — Why  the  aged  artist  so  often  marries  a 
pupil — Garat's  hopes — The  tragedy  of  their  non-fulfilment 
— Retirement — The  yellow  boots — The  last  illness — Old 
friends — Lubbert  and  Fabry  Garat — Dreams  of  past  great- 
ness— He  sings  in  silence — Death  of  Garat — Cherubini — 
Memorial  performance  at  the  Opera — A  tribute      .  .     337 


INDEX 357 


12 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PIERRE-JEAN    GARAT   AT   THE   ZENITH   OF   HIS   CAREER         Frontispiece 

BORDEAUX  .... 

BORDEAUX  .... 

BAYONNE  .... 

PIERRE-JEAN    GARAT       . 

DOMINIQUE-JOSEPH    GARAT 

THE   TRIBULATIONS    OF    THE    PEDESTRIAN 

THE   GARDEN    OF    THE    PALAIS-ROYAL     . 

THE   GALLERIES    OF    THE    PALAIS-ROYAL 

A    PUBLIC   PROMENADE 

THE    PRINCESSE   DE    LAMBALLE 

MARIE   ANTOINETTE 

MME.    VIGEE  LE    BRUN  . 

FASHIONS,    I  789-I  796-I  701       . 

MME.    DUGAZON   AS    NINA    IN    FOLLE   POUR   L '  AMOUR 

PRISONERS   TAKEN    BEFORE  A    REVOLUTIONARY   COMMIT 

OLD    ROUEN        .... 

ADRIEN    BOIELDIEU 

13 


FACING  PAGE 

36 

• 

40 

• 

48 

58 

58 

60 

• 

68 

72 

74 

.       80 

. 

84 

92 

104 

AMOUR     . 

112 

Y   COMMITTEE 

168 

. 

186 

. 

190 

Illustrations 


FACING  PAGE 

MME.    DE   CHASTENAY    . 

.         194 

A    PRISON   DURING   THE   TERROR 

.         204 

THE    WOES    OF    THE   CAPITALIST 

224 

MME.    TALLIEN                   .... 

•         236 

LES    INCROYABLES :     I  796 

.         238 

A   CABRIOLET     ..... 

.        238 

A    PUBLIC   BALL                 .... 

.         248 

MME.    JUNOT       ..... 

26o 

LE   SUPREME    BON    TON 

.         266 

FRASCATI               ..... 

27O 

MME    RECAMIER                  .... 

•         274 

EXCURSIONISTS                   .... 

.         280 

TALMA                     ..... 

.         280 

MME.    DE    KRUDENER     .... 

.         286 

CARICATURES    IN    MARTINET'S    BOOKSHOP 

29O 

MME.    DUGAZON                  .... 

•     3°4 

From  the  miniature  by  Jacques  in  tltt  Morgan  Collection. 
AN    AFTERNOON    CALL 


314 


(With  very  few  exceptions  the  illustrations  to  this  volume  are  from  the 
author's  photographs  of  contemporary  prints  in  the  British  Museum.  I 
take  this  opportunity  of  thanking  the  officials  of  the  Department  of 
Prints  and  Drawings  for  their  courtesy.  The  portrait  of  Mme.  Dugaron 
facing  page  304  is  reproduced  from  the  large  miniature  by  Jacques  in  the 
Pierpont  Morgan  Collection,  by  special  permission  of  Dr.  Williamson, 
trustee,  and  all  rights  of  reproduction  are  strictly  reserved. — B.M.) 


14 


PIERRE    GARAT 

CHAPTER    I 
BOYHOOD   AND   HOME   LIFE 

The  legend  of  Garat — His  origin — The  Venice  of  the  Atlantic — 
The  Basques — Why  mountaineers  are  given  to  dance  and  song 
— Ustaritz — The  Garat  family — The  Parliament  of  Bordeaux — 
Garat's  father — The  Garat  brothers — Birth  of  Garat — The 
musical  foster-mother — Schooldays — Illness  and  home  life. 

There  died  in  Paris,  in  the  spring  of  1823,  an  old 
man  at  the  age  of  sixty-one,  a  professor  of  singing, 
or,  to  be  more  exact,  of  "  perfecting  the  art  of 
song  and  of  vocal  music  "  :  a  pillar  of  the  French 
Conservatoire,  almost  a  foundation-stone,  for  he 
had  taught  its  more  promising  pupils  since  a  date 
only  three  years  later  than  its  institution.  He  left 
behind  him  a  widow,  of  disputed  legitimacy,  who 
had  been  a  favourite  pupil ;  two  illegitimate 
children,  whose  mother  was  cousin  to  a  king  ;  a 
collection  of  popular  songs,  and  a  legend  of  sur- 
passing brilliance. 

Legend   is    the   word,    for   little   more   remains. 
Here  and  there,  in  the  body  of  personal  memoirs 

15 


Pierre  Garat 

that  enshrine  the  living  human  history  of  the 
Revolution  and  the  Empire,  we  encounter  a  chance 
mention  of  one  Garat :  prince  of  singers,  leader 
of  exquisites,  the  beloved  of  great  ladies  :  a  poseur 
of  inimitable  effrontery  and  amazing  success,  yet 
a  sincere  and  eminent  artist.  The  writer  is  visit- 
ing chez  Tallien,  chez  Barras,  chez  Recamier,  at 
Malmaison  or  the  Tuileries,  and  there  as  a  matter 
of  course  is  Garat,  the  human  nightingale,  the 
leader  of  preposterous  fashion,  the  idol  of  gilt  or 
gilded  youth.  "All  Paris  cuts  the  capers  Garat 
cuts."  He  discards  the  letter  r  as  cacophonous, 
and  all  Paris  is  on  its  paole  (Vhonneu  to  boycott 
the  offending  sound.  He  leads  the  modes  that 
make  the  Muscadin,  the  Incroyable,  resplendent 
as  a  cock  pheasant  or  gloomy  as  a  British  ostler. 
A  dramatist  presumes  to  satirize  both  luminary 
and  satellites  :  the  bloods  of  Paris,  like  marvellous 
parti -coloured  turtles,  heads  barely  emerging  from 
fold  upon  fold  of  lawn  or  muslin,  legs  protruding 
from  the  ample  skirts  of  prodigious  gold-encrusted 
coats  :  all  the  cudgel -bearing  exquisites  of  the 
city  invade  the  theatre,  leap  upon  the  stage, 
threaten  the  author,  engage  in  battle,  and  ruin 
the  offending  piece.  When  he  has  been  but 
a  year  in  Paris  the  fame  of  the  law-student 
with  the  wonderful  self-trained  voice  awakens 
the  curiosity  of  Marie  Antoinette,  and  it  is  a 
royal  coach  with  six  horses  that  bears  him  to 
the   Trianon.      He   becomes   the    Queen's   singing- 

16 


Boyhood   and   Home   Life 

master ;  and  it  is  not  long,  be  sure,  before  the 
hostesses  of  Paris  are  competing  to  ensure  his 
presence.  The  most  brilliant  reception  gains  a 
lustre  if  Garat  sings.  He  gives  concerts  during 
the  Terror  ;  he  writes  songs  in  prison  ;  he  visits 
the  capitals  of  Europe,  and  everywhere  he  triumphs. 
So  dazzling  a  personage  is,  of  course,  beloved,  but 
is  no  Don  Juan  of  the  common  kind  :  he  is  less 
pursuer   than   pursued. 

If  old  age  came  to  him  early,  if  it  was  bitter  to 
lose  the  worship  of  a  frivolous  time,  to  submit  to 
wrinkles,  to  don  a  new  coat,  or  even  yellow  boots, 
and  yet  to  see  Paris  unstirred  ;  if,  above  all,  it  was 
bitter  to  lose  the  supremely  flexible  voice  that  was 
the  living  body  of  his  art,  at  least  he  found  a  labour 
that  he  loved,  and  for  a  generation  there  were  few 
French  singers  who  did  not  owe  something  of  their 
art  to  Garat. 

And  this  brilliant  poseur,  this  incomparable 
artist,  this  Adonis  of  a  hundred  goddesses,  moved 
in  the  most  stirring  period  of  modern  history  :  sang 
at  the  Trianon,  tasted  prison  under  the  Terror,  was 
a  leader  of  the  new  society  of  the  Directoire,  an 
intimate  of  the  Bonaparte  households,  and  saw  the 
return  of  the  Bourbons.  To  be  a  supreme  and 
adored  artist,  an  unrivalled  amateur  of  the  pose, 
the  lover  of  brilliant  women,  the  shaper  of  a 
generation  of  singers,  and  to  live  in  such  an  age  ! 
If  the  moral  of  his  life  be  doubtful,  the  decorative 
value   and   the   romance   are   at    least   not   easy   to 

17  b 


Pierre  Garat 

eclipse.  Here  is  one  of  those  figures  that  should 
be  put  on  record,  if  only  to  fill  a  gap  in  the  vast 
portrait   gallery   of   the    French    Revolution. 

The  task  is  not  without  its  difficulties.1  Apart 
from  a  few  brief  obituaries,2  no  contemporary  wrote 
his  life.  He  left  no  notes  for  memoirs  ;  his  lovers 
have  kept  their  own  counsel  ;  his  pupils  have  sung, 
but  have  not  spoken.  To  take  the  outlines  traced 
by  Jal,  Miel,  and  Garat's  uncle  Joseph,  to  set  one's 
palette  in  accordance  with  the  writers  of  Souvenirs 
and  Memoires,  to  place  a  touch  here  and  a  touch 
there,  until  the  canvas  bears  some  semblance  of  the 
living  figure  :  this  is  the  most  one  may  accomplish. 
But  the  figure  is  so  typical,  yet  so  original,  and  the 
setting  so  full  of  eternal  human  interest,  that  no 
attempt  to  reconstruct  the  man  and  the  stage  he 
moved  upon  should  be  wholly  void  of  profit. 

How  did  he  come  to  be  a  singer?  More  :  how 
did  he  come  to  be  that  perhaps  unparalleled 
phenomenon — a  singer  absolutely  self-taught,  who 
technically  was  scarcely  a  musician,  yet  whose  art 
was  admitted  by  all,  musicians  included,  to  be 
supreme  ? 

1  It  has  been  performed,  for  Garat's  compatriots,  by  M.  Pierre 
Lafond.  It  is  only  fair  to  add  that  M.  Lafond's  search  for  authori- 
ties has  been  so  exhaustive  that  his  successors  can  do  little  more 
than  follow  in  his  footsteps. 

2  One  by  Jal,  in  his  Dictionnaire  Critique  de  Biographie  et 
cPHistoire ;  one  by  Dominique-Joseph  Garat,  in  the  Revue 
Encyclopidique  for  1 82 3  ;  one  by  Miel,  in  the  Mtmoires  de  la  Sociite 
d?  Emulation  de  Cambrai.     These  are  the  only  notices  of  any  value. 

18 


Boyhood  and    Home   Life 

Born  of  the  solid,  cultivated  bourgeoisie  which 
made  Bordeaux  the  intellectual  centre,  as  it  was 
the  commercial  capital  of  the  South,  there  would 
seem  at  first  sight  to  be  little  to  explain  him. 
It  is  true  that  his  father  was  a  Basque,  and  the 
Basques,  according  to  Voltaire,  are  "  a  small  people 
who  dance  and  skip  on  the  summit  of  the 
Pyrenees "  :  a  people,  therefore,  addicted  to  a 
form  of  exercise  which  is  calculated  at  least  to 
develop  the  lungs,  if  not  related  directly  to  the 
singer's  art.  But  the  peasant  race  he  sprang  from, 
in  its  literal  descent  from  the  Pyrenees  to  the  plain, 
which  was  the  corollary  of  a  social  ascent  to  a 
level  of  respectable  professional  eminence,  had 
never  shown  signs  of  regarding  the  arts  as  more 
than  a  decoration,  a  grace  of  easy  living.  His 
mother,  a  Bordelaise,  came  of  the  same  "  nobility 
of  the  gown,"  the  class  that  yielded  the  Girondists 
to  the  scaffold  and  immortality ;  a  people  who 
surpassed  their  descendants  in  the  graces  of  culture 
as  they  did  in  material  display  ;  clad,  very  literally, 
in  purple  and  fine  linen,  dining  off  gold  or  silver, 
patrons  of  the  opera,  amateurs  of  Latin  verse, 
admiring  and  often  living  by  oratory.  Venturous 
traders  they  were  too,  builders  and  owners  of 
ships,  the  Venetians  of  the  West,  with  villas  on 
the  Garonne  in  place  of  palaces  beside  the  Brenta. 
In  an  age  when  the  majority  of  public  performers 
were  still  "  beyond  the  law,"  it  required  no  ordinary 
impulse  to  lead  the  son  of  such  stock  along  the 
path  that  Garat  followed. 

19 


Pierre  Garat 

The  humbler  strata  of  such  a  people  did  produce 
many  great  singers.  With  oratory  no  mere  accom- 
plishment, but  a  serious  means  of  winning  power 
and  fame  and  fortune  ;  in  a  country  whose  capital 
city  boasted  a  large  and  wealthy  cultured  class 
and  one  of  the  finest  operas  in  Europe,  this  is  not 
surprising.  But  in  Garat's  case  there  were 
accidents  of  life,  factors  purely  fortuitous,  touches 
of  the  finger  of  fate,  that  might  well  have  pre- 
destined a  Vergniaud  or  a  Guadet,  no  less  than  a 
Garat,  to  serve  the  Muse  of  song. 

Before  we  glance  at  these  circumstances,  or  the 
city  which  conditioned  his  youth,  let  us  once  for 
all  examine  our  hero's  parentage,  in  the  wider  sense 
of  the  word. 

"  Hidden  away  amid  the  gorges  of  the  Pyrenees, 
where  the  Gauls,  the  Franks,  and  the  Saracens 
have  ever  in  vain  assaulted  their  liberty,  the 
Basques  have  escaped  the  observation  of  the 
philosophers  as  the  sword  of  the  conquerors.  Rome 
dared  not  include  them  in  the  host  of  nations  whom 
she  counted  as  in  her  chains.  Around  them  the 
nations  have  a  score  of  times  changed  their  lan- 
guage and  their  laws  ;  but  the  Basques  still 
display  their  true  character ;  they  still  obey  the 
same  laws  ;  they  speak  the  tongue  they  spoke 
three  thousand  years  ago.  With  them  all 
things  have  resisted  the  centuries,  and  it 
may      be      said     that      behind      their      mountains 

20 


Boyhood  and   Home   Life 

they    have    found    an    asylum    against    time    and 
their  oppressors." 

These  are  the  words  of  Dominique-Joseph 
Garat,  uncle  to  our  singer,  of  whom  more  anon. 
To  say  more  than  he  says  of  the  Basques  would 
hardly  be  profitable,  for  they  still  remain  the 
mystery  of  Europe.  We  must,  however,  remember 
that  they  are  a  mountain  people.  It  is  not  entirely 
fanciful  to  regard  this  fact  as  of  some  significance. 
They  are  a  people  who  have  produced  many  notable 
singers,  and  a  considerable  literature  of  ballads. 
In  a  mountain  country  the  lungs  grow  strong  and 
capacious,  the  diaphragm  powerful  and  swiftly 
responsive  to  control.  Men  see  one  another  far 
off  upon  the  hills,  and  shout  their  greetings  or 
directions  across  still  or  windy  valleys.  The  low- 
land singer  has  often  to  suffer  long  training  before 
the  vocal  members  will  assume  the  natural  position 
for  shout  or  song  ;  hence  the  "  throaty  "  voice 
of  the  highly-trained  but  indifferent  singer ;  to 
the  mountaineer  the  shout  is  natural.  Mountain 
life,  again,  involves  solitude,  and  the  solitary  is 
apt  to  be  inarticulate.  Moreover,  his  emotions 
know  long  periods  of  disuse  ;  he  is  therefore  sub- 
ject, upon  stimulus,  to  explosive  discharges  of 
nervous  energy.  Such  discharges,  as  the  good 
Spencerian  will  remember,  must,  if  articulate 
expression  be  denied,  find  vent  in  violent  move- 
ment, or  in  laughter,  a  spasm  of  the  diaphragm 
and   vocal   chords.      Now   what    is   the   dance   but 

21 


Pierre   Garat 

violence  controlled  by  rhythm?  or  primitive  song 
but  a  rhythmical  and  artificial  laugh  or  lament- 
made  rhythmic  not  only  for  the  added  delight  of 
rhythm,  but  as  a  mnemonic  aid,  an  assistance  to 
voluntary  reproduction  ?  The  philosopher  will  pre- 
dict that  the  mountaineer  will  dance  and  sing,  and 
so  he  does.  The  Highlander  with  his  bagpipe  is 
no  real  exception,  but  a  further  proof :  the  strut 
of  the  piper  is  almost  a  dance,  and  all  the 
mechanism  of  song  is  brought  into  play,  with  the 
sole  exception  of  the  vocal  chords  ;  and  as  for  bag- 
pipe-music, is  it  not  almost  invariably  the  music  of 
violent  dancing?  Mountain  pipers  and  mountain 
singers  in  their  thousands  explain  our  Garat  :  the 
mountaineer  is  always  justified  in  singing  and 
dancing,  and— psychologically  speaking  at  least— 
in  playing  the  bagpipe.  If  other  Garats  did  not 
sing,  we  shall  see  that  there  were  moments  when 
they  could  not  refrain  from  dancing. 

Here,  for  instance,  is  a  case  in  point,  which 
goes  far  to  justify  Voltaire's  epigram  and  the  pre- 
diction of  the  psychologist.  In  the  breathing-space 
that  followed  the  Terror  three  Garat  brothers  came 
together  beneath  the  trees  of  the  Allees  de  Tourny, 
one  of  the  favourite  promenades  of  the  city.  It 
was  long  since  they  had  met,  and  they  had  survived 
the  Terror.  Political  differences  were  forgotten  ; 
they  remembered  only  their  affection.  Grave, 
worthy  gentlemen,  long  past  the  flush  of  youth, 
what  was  the  nature  of  their  greeting  ?     How  did 

22 


Boyhood  and   Home   Life 

they  express  their  joy?  By  the  Gallic  kiss  or  the 
British  hand-clasp  ?  No  !  Race  told  :  instinctively, 
as  one  man,  the  three  leapt  into  the  air  and  broke 
into  a  Basque  dance. 

A  son  of  such  stock,  we  may  take  it  that  Garat 
was  exceptionally  representative  rather  than  excep- 
tional. Racially  speaking,  he  had  a  right  to  sing. 
We  shall  see  presently  that  he  was  almost  inevitably 
predestined  a  singer  by  the  accidents  of  life. 

So  much  for  the  racial  factor.  Let  us  now 
once  for  all  trace  the  family  descent  from  Ustaritz 
to  the  capital  of  Guyenne. 

Starting  from  Bayonne  and  ascending  the  Adour, 
the  traveller  may  presently  turn  aside  to  the  course 
of  the  Nive,  a  river  that  rises  in  the  Spanish 
Pyrenees.  Along  its  banks  runs  a  poplar-shaded 
highway,  which  leads  at  length  to  Ustaritz.  Brooks 
traverse  the  lowlands,  gleaming  amid  thickets  of 
golden  gorse,  and  broom,  the  planta  genesta  of 
the  Angevin  kings,  and  the  giant  almond-scented 
heather,  the  brayere  or  briar  of  the  smoker,  with 
its  heavy  spires  of  whitish  or  mauve-tinged 
blossom.  Mauve  and  gold  and  emerald  and  silver, 
and  a  soft  air  quick  with  butterfly  and  dragon-fly, 
musical  with  waters  and  the  song  of  bird  and 
insect.  Beyond  lies  a  park-like  champaign,  the 
approaches  interspersed  with  fields  of  maize,  like 
giant  flags  of  emerald  silk  laid  out  to  dry  in  the 
sun.      Through   the   undulating   land   of   foot-hills, 

23 


Pierre   Garat 

their  wooded  meadows  pied  with  a  hundred  flowers, 
the  winding  paths  lead  upward  beneath  the  shade 
of  oak  and  pine  and  chestnut,  or  twinkling  beneath 
the  shadows  of  rustling  poplars. 

Beyond,  looming  superb  and  many-coloured  in  the 
crystal  Southern  air,  changing  like  mother-of-pearl 
as  the  cloud-shadows  pass  and  the  sun  wheels,  rises 
the  background  of  the  Pyrenees  :  at  first  the  spurs 
all  scarred  with  rocky  outcrops,  smothered  with 
briar  and  gorse  and  broom  ;  then  scattered  woods 
of  oak  and  pine,  and  again  the  wastes  of  rock  and 
heather  ;  and  above  all,  in  the  shifting  lights  of 
the  upper  air,  tortured  and  riven,  stricken  by  frost 
and  time,  swept  by  invisible  winds  or  flying 
streamers  of  cloud,  the  stupendous  peaks  of  naked 
rock,  crested  by  eternal  snows. 

Nestling  between  two  mountain  spurs,  gleaming 
amid  its  orchards,  is  the  village  of  Ustaritz  :  a 
place  of  cleanly  houses  of  red  and  white  ;  timber- 
framed  houses,  the  frames  and  shutters  painted 
red,  roofed  with  red  tiles,  the  walls  yearly  washed 
with  white.  Near  by,  upon  a  wooded  hill,  the 
Bllzaar  met  of  old  :  the  folk-mote  of  the  Basque 
elders,  where  they  gathered  by  a  table  of  stone, 
and  where,  late  into  the  eighteenth  century,  they 
still  made  the  laws  of  the  Basque  people.  Near 
by,  too,  but  farther  up  the  mountain,  is  the  village 
of  Sare,  whence  the  family  of  Garat  sprang.  Early 
in  the  seventeenth  century  one  Garat  migrated  : 
down  the  hill,  as  far  as  Ustaritz.     Here  one  Pierre 

24 


Boyhood   and   Home   Life 

de  Garat  dwelt  in  the  early  part  of  the  century, 
and  to  him,  for  want  of  better  information,  we 
must  give  the  topmost  place  in  the  Garat  pedigree. 
Then  came  Johannes  de  Garat,  who  married  a 
"  demoiselle  Darque,  dame  de  Maltia,"  which  latter 
name  was  given  to  one  of  Garat's  brothers.  Son 
of  Johannes,  Pierre  espoused  a  d'Aubadine  d'Etche- 
goyen,  and  begat  another  Pierre,  born  in  1709, 
who  was  the  grandfather  of  our  singer. 

This  Pierre  studied  medicine— in  those  days  no 
inexpensive  trade  to  learn  ;  hence  the  Garat  family 
must  by  then  have  been  people  of  substance.  On 
the  roads  of  French  and  Spanish  Navarre,  Pierre, 
an  equestrian  physician,  was  long  a  familiar  figure. 
He  was  a  man  of  various  attainments  :  a  statis- 
tician, a  philosopher,  even  a  politician.  He,  by 
a  wife  who  bore  the  curiously  Highland  patro- 
nymic of  Macaye,  had  four  sons  and  two  daughters, 
all  of  whom  reached  maturity.,  His  home  still 
stands—"  Garatchea,"  the  house  of  the  Garats  ;  but 
altered  now,  for  a  Basque  "  American,"  a  returned 
and  enriched  emigrant,  converted  it  years  ago  into 
a  dwelling  half  villa,  half  chalet. 

All  the  four  sons  were  sent  to  the  seminary  of 
Larressorre  ;  all  studied  for  the  Bar,  and  one  for 
the  priesthood  also. 

Paris  was  not  then  the  sole  intellectual  capital 
of  France.  As  Edinburgh,  in  the  days  of  Scott, 
was   a   brilliant   social   and   intellectual    centre,    so 

25 


Pierre  Garat 

was  Bordeaux  before  the  Revolution.  In  those 
days  a  provincial  capital  offered  ample  scope  for 
able  men  :  in  some  cases  more  than  Paris,  where 
the  Court  and  the  nobles  were  supreme.  The 
Parliament  of  Bordeaux  offered  a  dignified  career 
to  men  of  the  stamp  of  Vergniaud,  Guadet,  Gen- 
sonn6,  all  men  of  repute  before  they  took  their 
fatal  way  to  Paris.  Before  Paris  drained  the 
provinces  of  talent,  leaving  them  stagnant  and  an 
easy  prey  to  the  bureaucracy,  before  France  had 
paid,  as  the  penalty  for  mob  rule,  the  price  of 
excessive  centralization,  the  native  of  Bordeaux  was 
"  a  citizen  of  no  mean  city,"  and  the  advocate  of 
Bordeaux'  Parliament  held  a  proud  and  privileged 
position.  Dignified  figures  were  these  advocates  : 
"  wearing  the  ermine  of  councillors ;  powdered, 
bewigged,  in  gowns  of  silk,  of  quiet  or  vivid  colour 
according  to  the  season,  long  coats  with  vest  and 
breeches  all  of  silk,  white  stockings  and  shoes 
bearing  large  buckles  of  gold  and  silver  ;  leaning 
on  their  tall  gold-headed  canes."  Cultured, 
scholarly,  proud  and  independent,  they  contributed 
in  no  small  degree  to  the  social  brilliance  of  the  city. 

Dominique,  the  eldest  son  of  the  mountaineer 
doctor,  and  the  father  of  our  singer,  was  born  in 
1735.  He  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  of  Parliament 
in  1755.  He  is  described  as  a  man  of  open,  liberal 
mind,  with  a  rich  and  cultivated  imagination,  and 
a  tine  flow  of  eloquence. 

26 


Boyhood  and   Home   Life 

Dignified  jurist  though  he  was,  he  danced  in 
public  on  at  least  two  occasions.  One  of  these  we 
shall  remember  ;  the  other  was  many  years  earlier. 
At  the  theatre  certain  actors  were  dancing  the 
Basque  national  dance  :  the  mutchikoak,  a  violent, 
skipping  form  of  exercise.  So  miserably  did  they 
acquit  themselves  that  our  worthy  advocate  leapt 
upon  the  stage  and  gave  a  demonstration,  to  actors 
and  audience,  as  to  how  the  dance  was  performed 
upon  his  native  mountains.  As  a  result  of  this 
levity  the  scandalized  Parliament  suspended  him 
for  a  period  of  some  days,  for  compromising  the 
dignity  of  his  cloth. 

In  1789  he  was  sent  to  the  National  Assembly 
by  his  native  bailiwick  of  Ustaritz.  Appointed 
one  of  those  commissaries  of  the  Third  Estate 
who  sought  to  negotiate  the  union  of  the  Three 
Estates,  after  the  fall  of  the  Bastille  he  was  among 
those  who  accompanied  Louis  on  his  melancholy 
journey  to   Paris. 

Like  many  a  Bordelais,  he  welcomed  the  new 
ideas,  although  a  supporter  of  the  monarchy.  He 
did  not  change  his  opinions  with  the  advent  of 
mob  rule,  so  there  were  many  who  called  him  a 
reactionary. 

In  the  Assembly  he  strove  manfully  to  prevent 
the  fusion  of  Beam  and  the  Basque  country  to 
form  the  Department  of  Basses  Pyrenees.  The 
Devil,  he  remarked  in  an  eloquent  speech,  had  once 
spent    seven    years    among    the    Basques    in   order 

27 


Pierre  Garat 

to  learn  their  tongue  :  but  he  mastered  only  two 
words— bay  and  ez,  "  yes  "  and  "  no."  How  could 
the  Bearnais,  who  were  surely  not  cleverer  than 
the  Devil,  ever  learn  the  Euskarian  tongue,  or  keep 
house  with  the  Euskarian  ? 

At  the  dissolution  of  the  x\ssembly  he  returned 
to  Ustaritz.  The  Parliament  of  Bordeaux  was  no 
more,  and  the  southern  capital  was  presently  swept 
by  the  scourge  of  the  Terror.  Dominique  Garat 
served  awhile  as  President  of  the  Municipal 
Council  of  Ustaritz,  but  in  1799  he  died:  heart- 
broken, it  was  said,  like  many  another,  by  the 
violence  of  that  Revolution  from  which  he  had 
hoped  so  much. 

Laurent,  the  second  son,'  although  advocate  at 
the  Bordeaux  Bar,  took  orders  and  entered  the 
College  of  Guyenne  as  professor,  and  was 
eventually  Vice-Principal.  He  would  seem  to 
have   died   about    1773. 

The  third  son,  Dominique-Joseph,  author  of  the 
Notice  sur  Garat  in  the  Revue  Encyclopedique,  had 
the  greatest  worldly  success  of  the  brothers.  Born 
in  1749,  ne  was  sent  m  l7&9  as  deputy  to  the. 
States-General;  in  1792  he  succeeded  Danton  as 
Minister  of  Justice  ;  he  was  afterwards  Minister 
of  the  Interior,  was  imprisoned  during  the  Terror, 
and    on    his    release    became    Minister    of    Public 

1   M.  Lafond  speaks  of  him  on  p.  10  as  the  second  son,  and  on 
p.   26  as  the  fifth.     There  were,  however,  only  four  sons. 

28 


Boyhood  and   Home  Life 

Instruction.  He  was  also  ambassador  to  Naples, 
a  member  of  the  Council  of  Ancients,  a  member 
of  the  Institute  of  France,  a  Senator,  and  a  Count 
of  the  Empire.  Whether  he  was  the  windbag  and 
opportunist  that  some  have  thought  him,  "  whose 
cowardice  and  incapacity  were  largely  responsible 
for  the  fall  of  the  Gironde,"  or  whether,  as  others 
held,  he  was  "  a  liberal,  scholarly,  and  upright 
philosopher,"  is  a  problem  to  be  left  for  other  pens 
to  solve. 

One  may  remark,  however,  in  passing,  that  if 
in  his  Memoirs  he  correctly  reports  the  insane  sus- 
picions of  Robespierre,  it  would  have  required 
something  more  than  his  courage  and  competence 
to  save  his  compatriots  from  their  fate. 

To  him,  at  all  events,  as  Minister  of  Justice,  fell 
the  task  of  reading  the  sentence  of  his  death  to 
Louis  XVI.  The  passage  in  Lamartine's  The 
Girondists,  describing  the  drive  to  the  Temple,  and 
the  tragic  scene  within,  is  too  well  known  to  be 
quoted  here. 

He  lived  to  see  the  Bourbons  restored,  whose 
recall  he  steadily  opposed,  regretting  that  his 
brother  Dominique  had  not  survived  to  witness 
that  event.  He  did  not  see  their  failure  :  he  died 
in  Ustaritz,  in  1833,  after  years  of  quiet  retire- 
ment, his  only  intimate  the  parish  priest. 

Leon,  the  fourth  brother,  remained  in  his  native 
country  ;  his  life  was  quiet  and  uneventful.  There 
were  two  sisters  :    Theodore,  noted  for  her  beauty 

29 


Pierre   Garat 

and  intelligence,  who  took  the  veil,  and  eventually 
became  superior  of  a  convent  in  Bayonne  ;  and 
Manuela,  who  married  a   M.  Herembourg. 

Dominique,  the  father  of  our  singer,  married 
Mile.  Francoise  Gonteyron,  whose  father  had  been 
surgeon  to  the  Mar^chal  de  Saxe.  He  practised 
in  and  about  Bordeaux,  chiefly  as  a  surgeon- 
accoucheur.  Of  this  marriage  were  born  five 
children,  of  whom  Pierre,  the  singer,  was  the 
eldest  ;  the  others  were  Maltia,  Francisque, 
Theodore    (a  girl),   and   Fabry. 

Pierre-Jean  Garat  was  born  in  1762,1  on  the 
27th  of  April,  in  the  Rue  Desirade,  and  was 
baptized  in  the  church  of  St.  Nicolas.  The  house 
he  was  born  in  still  stands,  as  No.  40  Rue  Buhan, 
but  has  been  partly  rebuilt.  It  was  a  street  of 
lawyers.  The  houses,  like  many  in  the  older 
quarters  of  Bordeaux,  are  architecturally  dis- 
tinguished, with  wide  carriage-gates,  wrought-iron 
grilles,  and  stone  staircases,  but  are  now  mostly 
inhabited  by  families  of  the  petite  bourgeoisie . 

According  to  a  custom  usual  in  the  wealthier 
circles  of  French  society,  though  becoming  less 
fashionable  among  the  more  cultivated  of  the 
nobility,  our  hero,  having  been  born,  was  banished 
from  his  home. 

1  Several  authorities  have  the  date  of  his  birth  as  1764,  and  his 
birthplace  as  Ustaritz,  but  the  birth  certificate  (reproduced  by 
Lafond)  is  plainly  and  legibly  dated   1762. 

30 


Boyhood    and    Home    Life 

The  French  home  is  as  a  rule  well  filled,  for 
the  French  family  holds  together  ;  it  is  compact, 
and  is  conducted  methodically.  To  nurse  a  child, 
to  guide  it  through  the  shoals  of  teething,  to  evoke 
the  faculties  of  locomotion  and  self-control— these 
duties  would  remove  the  very  mainspring  of  the 
French  home,  or,  rather,  would  give  it  an  impos- 
sible extra  load.  The  French  mother  is  often  her 
husband's  business  partner  or  adviser  ;  the  friend 
and  guardian  of  her  boys  ;  the  supervisor  of  her 
daughters'  education  ;  and  a  social  unit  into  the 
bargain.  So  the  French  home  of  a  certain  stand- 
ing knows  no  nursery.  It  may  contain  children, 
but  they  are  responsible  members  of  society,  little 
men  and  women  of  the  world.  Carpets  are 
safe  from  the  accidents  of  infantile  digestion  ; 
mahogany  and  rosewood  do  not  suffer  from  the 
infants'  inquiries  into  the  properties  of  materials  ; 
elderly  people  and  guests  are  not  affrighted  by 
stifled  yells,  by  sudden  irruptions  from  the  nursery. 
When  the  child  is  fit  to  take  his  place  in  the  family 
circle  the  family  is  willing  to  receive  him.  What- 
ever the  French  mother  may  miss,  the  institution 
is  in  some  circles  part  of  the  national  life,  and 
was,  in  some  degree,  the  making  of  Garat. 

Mme.  Garat's  father,  in  his  quality  of  surgeon- 
accoucheur,  had  the  pick  of  all  the  foster-mothers 
of  a  large  tract  of  country.  At  Barsac,  in  a  land 
of   vineyards   and   singers,   he  made   his   choice. 

We  have  seen  that  the  Basque  may  be  expected 

3i 


Pierre   Garat 

to  dance  or  sing  ;  we  have  seen  that  on  occasion 
he  actually  does  at  least  dance,  and  we  know  of 
his  leaning  toward  oratory.  But  now  for  the 
determining  circumstance,  now  for  the  ringer  of 
Destiny.  The  Garats'  wet-nurse,  so  M.  Lafond 
informs  us,  was  a  phoenix.  He  does  not  tell  us 
that  she  passed  through  any  fiery  apotheosis  ;  yet 
phoenix  she  may  be  called,  for  in  song,  if  not 
in  fire,  she  yielded  of  her  life  to  the  infant.  In 
other  words,  she  sang,  as  an  accompaniment  and 
stimulus  to  the  process  of  alimentation.  Man,  if 
he  have  sought  out  many  inventions,  is  in  the 
earlier  stages  desperately  imitative,  and  here  was 
a  child  who  had,  we  may  suppose,  inherited  the 
vigorous  lungs,  the  irritable  yet  responsive 
diaphragm,  and  the  explosive  nervous  system 
of  the  true  Euskarian.  Very  soon,  when  he  was 
not  sucking,  he  sang.  What  in  another  child  is 
only  the  squalling  that  develops  the  organs,  and 
dissipates  a  surplus  of  nervous  energy,  was  in  Garat 
controlled  by  rhythm  and  melody  ;  he  fed,  he  sang, 
he  slept,  and  sang  again.  '  With  a  few  notes," 
says  his  uncle,  "  she  could  do  with  him  what  she 
would  ;  these  notes,  strung  into  phrases  of  song, 
were  engraved  upon  the  ear  and  the  voice  of  the 
child,  before  any  word  or  phrase  of  his  native 
tongue  ;  literally  Garat  began  to  sing  before  he 
began   to   speak." 

Here  surely  we  have  the  determining  factor  of 
Garat's  career.      Not  that  every  child  whose  nurse 

32 


Boyhood  and  Home  Life 

sings  over  its  cradle  becomes  a  singer  of  European 
fame  ;  but  here  was  a  child  born  of  a  race  pre- 
disposed to  rhythmical  utterance  or  gesture,  and 
by  chance  those  very  organs  which  differentiated 
him  from  others  were  the  first  to  be  appealed  to 
in  infancy.  The  rhythmic  and  melodic  centres 
were  the  first  to  receive  stimulation ;  and  this, 
so  that  they  were  not  overtaxed,  was  to  ensure 
that  as  he  grew  older  his  impulses  of  play  would 
spend  themselves  through  these  very  centres.  Art 
is  itself  the  expression  of  the  play-instinct,  and 
if  the  impulse  of  play,  in  the  developing  child, 
be  directed  into  the  channels  of  artistic  produc- 
tion, we  are  like  to  have  a  supreme  artist.  We 
shall  see  that  in  Garat's  case  this  is  precisely  what 
occurred,  and  it  was  by  the  self-imposed  control 
of  such  impulses  that  he  received  his  artistic 
education. 

The  time  came  for  the  musical  suckling  to  return 
to  the  paternal  roof.  "  In  this  house,  where  all 
were  much,  even  too  much  occupied  with  verse 
and  prose,  singing  and  dancing,  the  nurse  would 
soon  give  the  first  exhibition  of  their  talent.  All 
were  astounded  :  there  is  no  other  word,  but  it  was 
above  all  the  baby  that  was  the  marvel.  The 
family  had  no  doubt  that  some  great  future  lay 
before  the  child,  but  as  they  had  no  conception 
that  music  could  add  dignity  to  the  dignity  of 
human  nature  and  power  to  the  power  of  social 
institutions,  this  extraordinary  child  was  educated 

33  c 


Pierre  Garat 

by  the  ordinary  means  of  teaching  Latin  and  all 
that  accompanies  the  approach  to  that  superb 
tongue.  As  soon  as  he  could  read  and  write  he 
was  sent  first  to  Bordeaux,  then  to  Barbezieux. 
The  organization  of  Garat  and  his  nurse  had 
irrevocably  determined  his  vocation  and  the  nature 
of  his   celebrity." 

At  Bordeaux  he  overheard  the  singing  and  piano 
lessons  given  by  the  best  masters  of  the  town  to 
the  sons  of  wealthy  merchants.  At  Barbezieux 
was  a  young  Parisian,  a  prodigal  son,  established 
as  classical  master.  He  was  a  devoted  amateur 
of  the  violin.  On  every  possible  occasion  Garat 
would  listen  to  his  playing,  and  remember  all  that 
he  heard,  to  reproduce  it  vocally.  "  Before  he 
was  twelve  years  of  age  he  knew  at  least  fifty  pieces 
of  instrumental  music  ;  they  were  engraved  upon 
his  mind  with  such  a  force  of  impression  that 
a  listener  with  a  good  ear  could  easily  distinguish 
between  those  which  he  had  heard  on  the  piano 
and  those  which  had  been  played  on  the  violin." 

Already  his  ruling  passion  possessed  him, 
obsessed  him.  All  his  leisure  was  spent  in 
hearing  or  repeating  music,  no  matter  how  com- 
plex. The  physical  strain,  and  more  especially 
perhaps  the  emotional  strain — for  Garat,  with  all 
his  artificiality,  was  the  most  emotional  of  singers 
and  assiduous  of  artists— proved  too  extreme  for  the 
growing  child  to  bear.      At  last  his  people  heard 

34 


Boyhood  and  Home  Life 

of  his  illness.  His  father  and  one  of  his  uncles 
rode  over  from  Bordeaux.  So  horrified  were  they 
by  his  appearance  that  they  rode  incontinently 
home,  bearing  the  boy  by  turns  upon  their  saddles. 

In  his  new  life  at  home  he  was  forbidden  to 
sing.  He  was  taught  to  play  as  a  normal  child. 
An  adoring  mother  and  grandmother  nursed  him1 
back  to  health.  He  was  taken  frequently  to 
bullfights  as  an  antidote  to  an  excess  of  music, 
and  acquired  a  certain  liking  for  them.  But  he 
soon  recovered  his  strength,  and  with  his  recovery 
resumed  his  self-directed  musical  education.  It 
was  easy  to  forbid  him  to  hear  or  to  make  music, 
but  not  so  easy  to  enforce  obedience.  If  the 
music-lessons  overheard  in  a  boarding-school  had 
inspired  him,  what  of  Bordeaux,  where  the  very 
air  was  full  of  music? 

For  of  the  rest  of  his  boyhood  much  was  spent 
in  the  capital  of  Guyenne,  amid  a  society  of 
merchant  princes,  of  accomplished  jurists,  of 
versatile  priests  ;  a  city  surrounded  by  a  pleasant 
land  of  summer  villas,  of  river-side  pleasaunces  ; 
a  city  where  the  opera,  the  concert,  and  the 
"  musical  evening "  were  part  of  the  fabric  of 
social  life.  But  the  city  of  Bordeaux  and  its 
inhabitants  must  be  left  to  another  chapter, 
together  with  the  original  but  effectual  manner 
in  which  the  boy  formed  that  unparalleled  voice, 
which  was  the  admiration  not  alone  of  amateurs, 
but  of  the  greatest  musicians  of  the  time,  of  whose 
works  it  made  him  the  unrivalled  interpreter. 

35 


CHAPTER    II 
TWO   SOUTHERN   CAPITALS 

The  city  of  Bordeaux — Its  Parliament — The  tone  of  its  society — 
Garat's  boyhood — Young  on  Bordeaux — The  theatre — The 
luxury  of  its  citizens — Barbezieux — Prosperity  of  Guyenne — 
No  reason  why  Garat  should  be  a  Republican — At  Ustaritz 
— Basque  dances  and  ballads — Garat  at  Bayonne — Young  on 
Bayonne  and  Beam — The  return  to  Bordeaux — Musical  studies : 
Beck — The  opera— Garat's  real  musical  training — His  first 
audiences — He  is  to  be  a  lawyer. 

Meanwhile  the  old  order  was  approaching 
dissolution.  The  tempest  was  as  yet  remote, 
but  even  now,  in  many  parts  of  France,  the 
prophetic  eye  might  have  foretold  it.  It  is  per- 
tinent, therefore,  to  wonder  what  the  boy  Garat 
might  have  seen  of  the  handwriting  on  the  wall. 
The  probability  is  that  he  saw  nothing  at  all. 

We  shall  find  him,  later,  in  the  last  days  of  the 
Monarchy,  the  friend  of  Marie  Antoinette,  the 
protege  of  the  King's  brother ;  an  impenitent 
dandy  during  the  days  of  the  carmagnole ;  a 
leader  of  muscadlns  the  moment  reaction  dared 
to  raise  its  head.  In  a  bourgeois,  the  son  of 
a  parliamentarian,  a  Girondist  by  birth  and  train - 

36 


Two  Southern  Capitals 

ing,  this  may  seem  to  call  for  explanation.  Let 
us   consider  if  his   boyhood   supplies   it. 

Firstly,  what  manner  of  city  was  Bordeaux,  was 
Bayonne  ;  what  manner  of  country  Guyenne  and 
the  Basses  Pyrenees?  The  "wise  and  honest" 
Young  saw  them  but  a  few  years  later  ;  on  the 
very  eve  of  the  revolutionary  storm.  We  shall 
find  his   description  illuminating. 

But  Bordeaux  is  too  proud  a  city  to  be  passed 
over  lightly  ;  it  is  meet  that  she  be  duly  intro- 
duced. 

How  early  the  Gauls  were  here  none  knows, 
but  here  Rome  found  them,  and  made  their 
city  the  capital  of  Lower  Acquitaine.  A  four- 
square stronghold,  with  walls  and  lofty  towers, 
commanding  the  roadstead  where  the  galleys  lay 
beached  or  moored  ;  so  Ausonius  describes  it,  that 
Bordelais  of  the  fourth  century.  When  Rome  fell 
Bordeaux  shared  her  degradation.  But  ere  the 
Normans  came  to  England  she  was  prosperous 
again,  and  again  a  capital  :  soon  to  be  a  strong- 
hold of  the  English  kings  for  full  three  hundred 
years.  Bordeaux  ships  were  seen  upon  Exe  and 
Humber,  Dart  and  Thames  and  Dee,  bearing  wine 
and  oil,  silk  and  fish  and  hides. 

The  Roman  origin  of  the  city  and  a  passion 
for  generalization  led  Lamartine  astray.  The 
Girondists  came  from  Bordeaux ;  they  were 
republican ;  therefore  the  Republic  had  its 
origin     in     Bordeaux,     from     the     days     of     its 

37 


at  o(q«vj 


Pierre  Garat 

Roman  forum  a  home  of  the  republican  spirit. 
We  know  now  that  Lamartine  was  wrong  ;  France 
held  no  actual  republicans  until  the  King  was 
revealed  a  traitor ;  but  independent  and  jealous 
of  its  rights  the  city  was  and  had  been;  in  1548 
resisting  the  salt-tax  by  force  of  arms,  and  a 
century  later   joining   the   Fronde. 

Its  interests  were  twofold— commercial  and 
parliamentary.  The  King  must  not  overburden 
commerce  nor  override  the  Parliament.  All  the 
Parliaments  of  France  were  in  a  sense  one  body, 
and  beside  their  function  of  supreme  tribunal  they 
had  a  consultative  function  ;  by  them  the  King's 
edicts  must  be  registered  before  they  could  become 
the  law  of  France  ;  they  were,  in  some  sort,  a 
national  Senate.  Like  other  Senates,  they  upheld 
not  only  the  interests  of  the  people— which  for 
them  was  the  bourgeoisie— but  their  own.  Their 
continued  existence,  their  dignity,  their  powers  and 
rights,  were  jealously  guarded.  In  a  sense  they 
may  be  said,  by  reaction,  to  have  precipitated  the 
Revolution.  An  attempt  was  made  by  Louis  XV, 
and  again  by  Louis  XVI,  to  replace  the  Parlia- 
ments by  Estates,  intended  by  the  monarch  to  be 
docile  assemblies,  but  likely,  once  established,  to 
get  out  of  hand.  The  opposition  of  the  jealous 
Parliaments  was  too  strong . 


it> 


Such  a  body  it  was  that  gave  the  tone  to  society 
in  Bordeaux.     The  parliamentarians  were  almost  a 

38 


Two  Southern  Capitals 

lesser  nobility;  their  interests  were  far  from 
democratic  ;  neither  had  they  anything  to  gain  by 
flattering  or  arousing  the  democracy.  They  were 
for  the  Crown,  but  against  its  abuses  ;  for  a  con- 
stitutional check  upon  power,  but  for  the  retention 
of  the  reins  in  their  own  hands. 

Nor  had  they,  in  Bordeaux,  the  same  reasons 
as  elsewhere  for  regarding  the  noblesse  and  the 
Church  with  jealousy.  In  Paris  all  the  higher 
places  were  held  by  courtiers  ;  the  bourgeois  went 
in  plain  black,  swordless,  bespattered  by  the  silken 
dandy  as  he  urged  his  rattling  cabriolet  along  the 
reeking  or  dusty  streets  of  the  city.  In  Bordeaux 
the  bourgeois  had  it  all  his  own  way ;  he  was 
in  possession ;  like  a  noble,  he  wore  a  sword, 
and  went  delicately,  clad  in  silks  and  satins,  lawns 
and  laces.  Wealth  was  general ;  culture  was 
general ;  it  was,  in  some  respects,  a  golden  age, 
and  the  basis  of  life  was  not,  as  in  Paris,  rotten. 

There  was,  then,  every  reason  why  Garat  should 
lead  a  careless,  happy  boyhood,  imbibing  all  the 
prejudices  and  opinions  of  his  class,  which  were 
far  from  democratic  in  any  Jacobin  sense.  There 
were  other  reasons  also,  psychological  reasons, 
which  would  make  it  impossible  for  the  Jacobin 
ideology  to  seduce  him  ;  and  in  the  case  of  a  man 
who  lived  through  the  Revolution  and  the  Terror 
we  must,  to  understand  him,  consider  such  points. 

But  let  us,  before  Garat  grows  older,  return  to 

39 


Pierre  Garat 

the  invaluable  Young.  In  the  August  of  1787 
he  drives  into  Bordeaux,  through  the  pleasant  vine- 
yards of  Barsac,  amid  scattered  country-seats  of 
wealthy  Bordeaux  merchants.  "  Much  as  I  had 
read  and  heard  of  the  commerce,  wealth,  and 
magnificence  of  the  city,  they  greatly  surpassed 
my  expectations."  The  quay  disappoints  him;  no 
quay,  but  a  muddy  river-beach ;  the  ships  that 
lie  along  the  crescent -shaped  reach  of  the 
Garonne  have  to  be  unloaded  by  means  of 
lighters.  But  he  admires  the  Place  Royale,  with 
the  "  statute  "  of  "  Lewis  XV,"  and  the  quarter 
of  the  Chapeau  Rouge  is  "  truly  magnificent,  con- 
sisting of  noble  houses,  built  like  the  rest  .  .  . 
of  white  hewn  stone."  The  old  Chateau  Trompette, 
the  fort,  which  "  occupies  near  half  a  mile  of  the 
shore,"  has  been  bought  by  speculators,  who  intend 
to  replace  it  by  a  fine  square  "  and  new  streets 
to  the  amount  of  1,800  houses,"  "  one  of  the 
most  splendid  additions  to  a  city  that  is  to  be 
seen  in  Europe."  l     Then  we  come  to  what  touches 

1  This  speculation  ruined  the  unhappy  promoter,  Mangin  de 
Montmirail.  Having  made  an  immense  fortune  by  purchasing 
a  forest  and  cutting  a  canal  for  the  transport  of  timber,  he 
bought  Saint-Cloud  and  exchanged  it  for  the  Chateau.  Before 
he  could  commence  operations  in  Bordeaux  he  had  been  black- 
mailed in  Paris  to  the  tune  of  some  millions,  and  once  free  of  Paris 
the  governor  of  the  Chateau,  backed  by  the  Minister  of  War,  refused 
to  evacuate  the  fortress  unless  barracks  were  built  for  his  troops. 
Montmirail  was  finally  bankrupt,  saving  a  pension  of  ^120  out  of 
the  wreck.  Such  were  the  vicissitudes  of  commerce  in  the  good 
old  days. 

40 


Two   Southern  Capitals 

Garat  more  closely.  "  The  theatre,  built  about 
ten  or  twelve  years  ago,  is  by  far  the  most 
magnificent  in  France.  I  have  seen  nothing  that 
approaches  it.  .  .  .  The  entrance  .  .  .  leads  also 
to  an  elegant  oval  concert-room  and  saloons.  .  .  . 
The  establishment  of  actors,  actresses,  singers, 
dancers,  orchestra,  etc.,  speak  the  wealth  and 
luxury  of  the  place.  I  have  been  assured  that 
thirty  to  fifty  louis  a  night  have  been  paid  to  a 
favourite  actress  from  Paris.  Larrive,  the  first 
tragic  actor  of  Paris,  is  now  here  at  500  livres 
a  night.  .  .  .  Dauberval,  the  dancer,  and  his 
wife  (the  Mile.  Theodore  of  London)  are  retained 
.    .    .   at  a  salary  of  28,000  livres  (£1,225)." 

He  speaks  of  the  luxurious  life  of  the  place. 
"  Great  entertainments,  and  many  served  on  plate  : 
high  play  is  a  much  worse  thing : — and  the 
scandalous  chronicle  speaks  of  merchants  keeping 
the  dancing  and  singing  girls  of  the  theatre  at 
salaries  which  ought  to  import  no  good  to  their 
credit." 

After  dirty  linen,  a  word  as  to  clean.  The  ship- 
owners of  Nantes  used  to  send  their  family  wash 
to  the  West  Indies,  the  water  of  certain  mountain 
streams  of  San  Domingo  giving  a  more  exquisite 
whiteness  than  the  rivers  of  France.  Here  is  a 
sybaritic  note  !  If  the  merchants  of  Bordeaux  did 
the  same  we  do  not  know,  but  we  do  know  that 
a  hundred  pairs  of  sheets  was  reckoned  a  decent 
provision  for  a  family. 

41 


Pierre  Garat 

A  busy,  brilliant,  enterprising  community  it  is 
as  Young  sees  it ;  is  there  not  even  "  a  new  tide 
corn -mill,  very  well  worth  viewing,"  where  the 
water  pours  through  canals  of  hewn  stone  into 
a  vast  reservoir,  turning  the  wheels  that  move 
twenty-four  pairs  of  stones,  and  escaping  at  the 
ebb  ?  A  venture  the  cost  of  which  Young  gives 
as  £350,000,  very  properly  adding,  "  I  know  not 
how  to  credit  such  a  sum."  Everywhere  he  sees 
signs  of  prosperity  ;  new  streets  built  and  build- 
ing or  marked  out  for  the  future  ;  all  dating  from 
"  the  peace  .  .  .  and  from  the  colour  of  the  stone 
of  those  streets  next  in  age  it  is  plain  that  the 
spirit  of  building  was  at  a  stop  during  the  war." 
But  now  all  is  activity ;  rents  and  the  cost  of 
living  are  going  up,  "  a  sure  sign  of  prosperity." 

Larrive,1  during  Young's  visit,  very  appropriately 
plays  the  part  of  the  Black  Prince  in  Pierre  le 
Cruel;  for  the  Black  Prince,  we  must  remember, 
was  Prince  of  Acquitaine,  and  here,  with  Joan, 
the  "  Fair  Maid  of  Kent,"  he  held  his  Court,  and 
Bordeaux  was  his  headquarters  during  his 
campaign  in  Navarre  in  support  of  Pedro  the 
Cruel. 

Nothing,  as  yet,  of  the  traditional  France  of 
the  anclen  regime.  At  Barbezieux,  indeed,  where 
Garat    first    went    to    school,    our    traveller    waxes 

1  So  great  was  the  enthusiasm  caused  by  Larrive's  visit  to 
Bordeaux  that  all  the  roads  leading  to  his  lodging  were  strewn 
with  boughs  of  laurel. 

42 


Two  Southern  Capitals 

indignant,  on  account  of  the  great  amount  of  waste 
land  near  markets  so  abundant.  The  chief  pro- 
prietors were  the  Due  de  Bouillon  and  the  Prince 
de  Soubise,  and  "  all  the  signs  I  have  seen  yet 
of  their  greatness  are  wastes,  landes,  deserts,  fern, 
ling. — Go  to  their  residence,  wherever  it  may  be, 
and  you  would  probably  find  them  in  the  midst 
of  a  forest,  very  well  peopled  with  deer,  wild  boars, 
and  wolves.  Oh  !  if  I  was  the  legislator  of  France 
for  a  day  I  would  make  such  great  lords  skip 
again  !  " 

But  it  is  the  agricultural  expert  who  speaks 
here  :  who  had  seen  elsewhere  in  France  women 
grovelling  on  their  knees,  filling  their  aprons  with 
fern  and  leaves  and  nettles  for  their  cattle,  and 
villages  of  windowless  hovels  whose  floor  was 
the  reeking  soil.  Here  the  population  was  not 
starving  ;  it  was  merely  absent.  Garat  the  school- 
boy, if  he  spared  time  from  his  music,  would  see 
nothing  here  to  arouse  his  pity  or  fire  his  heart ; 
only  a  fine  country  for  a  scamper  or  a  bird's-nesting 
expedition. 

As  for  the  country  round  Bordeaux,  much  of 
it  was  held  by  wealthy  bourgeois ;  it  was  a  land 
of  country  houses,  whither  they  retired  in  the 
autumn  of  life  or  the  summer  of  the  year  ;  a  country 
of  river-side  villas,  of  model  farms,  gardens,  vine- 
yards, groves,  and  meadows.  For  the  peasants, 
they  were  a  prosperous,  cleanly  people,  industrious 

43 


Pierre  Garat 

and  content.  No  :  Gilyenne  was  not  France.  No 
wonder  that  the  Terror  found  reason  for  offence 
in  Bordeaux,  purging  with  blood  and  fire  that  home 
of  traitors  who  dared  perchance  to  regret  the  good 
old  days  I 

But  now,  while  Garat  returned  to  health,  enjoy- 
ing the  shows  of  the  city,  loitering  on  the  quays, 
snuffing  the  magic  odours  of  river  and  shipping 
and  the  cargoes  of  ships,  or  joining,  of  an  evening, 
the  well-dressed,  leisurely  strolling  crowds,  who 
took  the  air  beneath  the  trees  of  Allees  de  Tourny  ; 
now,  while  Bordeaux  was  at  the  height  of  its 
fortunes,  spreading  on  every  hand,  seeking  new 
markets— since  the  wars  with  England  had  lost 
France  her  colonies— speculating,  saving,  spending, 
entertaining  :  the  ancien  regime  must  have  seemed 
far  from  unbearable  and  very  far  from  its  end. 
No  sights  here  to  arouse  the  boy's  indignation  ; 
no  insolent  nobles  to  crowd  him  off  the  sidewalk, 
or  bespatter  him  with  mud,  or  to  block  the  way 
to  a  career  ;  if  taxes  were  heavy,  Bordeaux  could 
pay  them :  was  able,  on  occasion,  to  resent 
imposition.  Parliament,  filled  by  the  sons  of 
merchants,  shipowners,  and  jurists,  was  guardian 
of  their  interests ;  the  spirit  of  change  still 
slumbered,  to  awaken  did  occasion  call ;  not  to 
undo  the  King,  but  to  teach  him  proper  kingship. 

All,  in  short,  was  propitious  to  a  normal  boy- 
hood.      And     once     the     inhibition    of    physical 

44 


Two  Southern  Capitals 

weakness  and  parental  prudence  was  withdrawn, 
there  was  nothing  to  distract  the  boy  from  follow- 
ing his  natural  bent.  For  a  time,  when  a  course 
of  good  feeding  and  easy  amusement  had  restored 
him  sufficiently  to  travel,  he  was  sent  to  complete 
his  recovery  amid  his  father's  native  mountains. 
At  the  home  of  the  Garat  family,  that  pleasant 
white-walled  house,  red-roofed,  red-timbered,  amid 
the  changing  green  of  windy,  tossing  leaves,  he 
spent  some  pleasant  months,  and  here,  as  must 
be  once  life  has  assumed  a  direction,  all  things 
tended  to  ensure  his  vocation. 

Dancers  and  singers  were  the  Basques,  as  we 
have  seen  ;  dance  and  song  were  their  national 
medium  of  expression  ;  in  moments  of  exaltation, 
at  seasons  of  worship  or  ceremony,  at  fairs  and 
markets,  on  saints'  days  and  holidays,  at  weddings 
or  municipal  processions.  You  may  picture  the 
growing  boy,  a  little  at  a  loss  in  that  placid  upland 
town,  rising  eagerly  on  summer  dawns,  before  the 
lark  had  outsung  the  thrush,  to  take  his  way  over 
the  thyme -scented,  heather-misted  hillsides,  or 
climbing  the  mountain  spurs  beneath  the  shade  of 
secular  chestnuts,  where  the  golden  discs  of  sun- 
light swayed  upon  the  brown  earth ;  or  higher 
still,  amid  pine  and  broom  and  juniper,  toward 
some  distant  hamlet  whose  fair-day  or  feast-day 
had  struck,  or  where  both  commerce  and  the  saints 
were  to  be  served  at  once ;  wandering,  lonely  and 
high-hearted,  with  a  joy  in  the  sun,  the  fresh  herb- 

45 


Pierre  Garat 

scented  air,  the  rolling  green  foot-hills,  and  the 
snow-capped  amethyst  peaks  ;  in  his  own  upwelling 
youth,  and  that  shy,  intimate  sense  of  personality 
which  is  in  youth  so  wonderful ;  a  joy  in  these 
things  that  now  and  again  must  find  expression, 
lest  it  grow  unendurable,  in  song  as  unforced  as 
the  lark's  overhead,  or  in  a  sudden  scamper  against 
the  morning  breeze  ;  or  coming  abruptly,  amid  the 
lofty  thickets  of  broom  and  heather,  upon  some 
larger  hillside  trail,  along  which  peasants,  in  their 
stiff  holiday  bravery,  stride  beside  their  sturdy 
mules  or  asses,  which  bear,  in  the  creaking  double 
panniers  that  still  carry  the  Pyrenean  traveller, 
their  country  produce  to  market,  or  their  wives 
or  children  to  the  feast.  You  may  see  him  at 
length  achieving  the  last  long  rise,  beholding  below 
him,  like  a  hill  of  coloured  ants,  the  busy  town, 
white  and  red  amid  the  green,  set  out  like  a  child's 
toy  or  a  painted  map,  but  all  alive  ;  the  arterial 
byways  a-throng  with  jostling  corpuscles  of  black 
and  red  and  green  ;  the  rolling  hum  of  the  crowd, 
the  sudden  cries  of  chapmen,  and  the  clear  throb 
of  bells  rising  mingled  in  that  pellucid  air.  And 
the  slight  fatigue  that  succeeded,  as  he  walked 
the  long  miles,  to  the  delight  that  found  utterance 
in  song  or  rapid  motion  :  that  pleasant  austerity, 
that  dear  aloofness  which  comes  of  solitude  on 
the  high  hills,  all  vanish  at  the  human  thrill  of 
the  scene  below  ;  he  moves  downward  refreshed, 
the    throb    of    the    festa    thrilling    his    very    heart, 

46 


Two  Southern  Capitals 

all  anticipation  and  impatient  elation,  until  at  last, 
when  he  breaks  into  the  humming  place,  he  is 
ready,  in  spite  of  white  hands  and  silken  clothes 
and  silver  buckles,  to  be  no  more  than  a  delighted 
boy  ;  ready  to  give  and  take,  to  exchange  salted 
pleasantries  with  the  men,  eager  glances  with  the 
girls  ;  to  watch  or  join  in  the  dancing,  to  win 
applause  for  his  singing. 

No  easy  dancing  this,  but  somewhat  after  the 
fashion  of  our  ancient  folk-dances ;  the  zpata 
dantza,  gorrai  dantza,  pordon  dantza,  handed  from 
father  to  son,  danced  strenuously  by  lusty 
young  bachelors  to  the  music  of  pipe  and 
horn,  fife  l  and  tambor,  the  latter  struck 
by  a  special  finger-ring.  The  dancers  go  before 
the  mayor  and  council  on  days  when  those  worthies 
walk  in  procession,  or  on  saints'  days  before  priest 
and  acolyte  and  choristers,  advancing  decorously 
in  two  unbroken  files  ;  or  in  the  evening,  or  on 
Sunday  afternoon,  the  more  general  figures  are 
danced  by  all  who  will  in  the  public  place. 

A  gay  crowd,  these  Basque  yeomen  ;  the  men 
wearing  the  national  sleeveless  coat,  hanging  often 
from  one  shoulder,  a  coloured  waistcoat,  a  red 
girdle,  breeches  of  cloth  or  velvet  buttoned  below 
the  knees,  white  stockings,  and  sandals  of  plaited 

1  The  fife,  or  flute,  was  an  instrument  with  only  three  stops,  and 
was  often  played,  in  company  with  a  minute  tambourine,  by  a  single 
player ;  the  left  hand  would  hold  and  play  the  flute  while  the  right 
hand  struck  the  tambourine,  which  was  slung  from  the  neck. 

47 


Pierre  Garat 

hemp,  attached  by  a  lacing  of  leather  thongs,  and 
on  the  long  hair  the  national  biretta  of  blue  or 
red.  The  women  wear  the  same  Basque  jacket, 
but  fitted  snugly  to  the  figure,  and  a  short  petticoat 
with  many  gathers  upon  the  hips  ;  the  hair  coiled 
at  the  back  of  the  head  and  bound  in  a  many- 
coloured  kerchief,  or  hanging  to  the  waist,  or  even 
to  the  heels,  in  a  long,  splendid  plait. 

After  business,  after  food,  when  the  wine  gets 
to  work,  there  are  songs,  ballads,  and  folk-tales, 
all  noted  and  remembered  by  the  boy  ;  and  later 
still,  as  he  goes  homeward  over  the  darkening  hills, 
pleasantly  wearied,  glad  of  the  company  of 
shepherd  or  farmer  or  mule -coper,  the  songs 
are  gone  over  again,  the  tales  are  retold,  or  perhaps 
those  older  tales,  of  magic  and  miracle,  dragon 
and  demon  and  saint,  whioh  are  shy  of  the  open 
day  and  the  common  sense  of  the  market-place,  are 
told  as  they  should  be,  in  the  falling  dusk  of  the 
immemorial  hills. 

Be  sure  that  when  presently  he  went  to  Bayonne, 
where  it  seems  Dominique's  parents  had  a  house, 
he  was  not  shy  of  repeating  dance  or  song.  Sing- 
ing as  he  did  in  his  cradle,  his  voice  was  natural 
as  a  bird's,  and  the  Bayonnais,  though  music-mad, 
were  not  over-critical  as  to  training.  Every  other 
Bayonnais  played  the  violin,  the  'cello,  or— as  was 
fitting  in  a  frontier  town— the  mandolin  or  guitar  ; 
song  was  heard  continually  in  the  cobbled  streets, 

48 


3    ^ 


Two    Southern   Capitals 

under  the  wrought-iron  balconies  of  the  shuttered 
windows  ;  songs  were  written  upon  any  and  every 
subject,  upon  any  and  every  pretext  :  lampoon  or 
epigram,  scandal  or  anecdote  soon  went  the  round 
of  the  city.  Song,  indeed,  supplied  the  place  of 
a  popular  press,  and  every  family  had  its  collection 
of  songs  in  manuscript. 

Mme.  d'Aulnoy  tell  us  "  in  all  Guyenne  and 
about  Bayonne  people  have  voices  naturally,  and 
only  good  masters  are  lacking."  She  did  not  think 
highly  of  a  concert  at  the  Jacobins  in  the  Bourg 
Neuf.  "  Very  fine  voices,  .  .  .  but  one  could  not 
take  pleasure  in  hearing  them,  for  they  had  neither 
method  nor  style." 

The  Bayonnais  were  perhaps  less  critical,  or  for 
them  the  song  was  the  thing.  Garat,  at  least,  you 
may  suppose  they  heard  with  pleasure  ;  you  may 
fancy  him,  brown  and  eager  from  the  hills,  his 
young  boy's  dignity  and  conscious  respect  for  his 
new  silken  clothes  continually  disappearing  beneath 
the  Southern  vivacity  of  the  enthusiast ;  full  of 
the  curious  mountain  ballads,  and  very  ready  to 
sing  them  :  l  or  taking  part  in  some  grave  dis- 
cussion of  the  national  dances,  and  giving,  in  the 
decorous  Bayonne  salons,  his  version  of  the  intricate 
steps.      If   in  Bordeaux   song  was   forbidden,   here 

1  The  music  of  these  songs  was  originally  developed  from  that 
of  the  Gregorian  chant.  The  air  was  repeated  for  each  verse,  and 
each  verse,  as  a  rule,  had  a  refrain,  often  in  different  time.  Youth, 
love,  the  song  of  birds,  the  beauty  of  spring,  were  the  subjects 
of  these  folk-songs. 

49  D 


Pierre  Garat 

it  was  encouraged,  and  the  phcenix  nurse  and 
the  mountain  ballad-singers  were  succeeded  by 
Lamberti,  with  whom  Garat  studied  the  elements 
of  music. 

Here  again  no  political  trouble  was  visible. 
Bayonne,  the  old  frontier  city,  deserted  by  the 
nobles,  was,  like  Bordeaux,  a  paradise  of  the 
bourgeoisie ;  a  lively,  cultivated,  sociable  folk, 
prosperous,  living  a  genial  and  easy  life.  Of  an 
evening  the  promenades  of  the  old  Spanish-looking 
city  were  gay  with  strollers  ;  the  ramparts  of  the 
fortifications,  the  banks  of  the  Nive  and  Adour, 
the  alleys  of  Paulmy  and  Les  Marines  ;  the  children 
and  sometimes  the  ladies  in  the  cacolet,  the  double 
pannier,  the  ass  or  mule  gay  with  bells  and 
woollen  tassels.  Later  in  the  evening  the  lamplit 
balconies  of  the  salons  made  the  ancient  streets 
cheerful,  and  in  a  town  so  Spanish  in  aspect  one 
may  imagine,  as  in  Spain,  the  fascinated  lover  suck- 
ing his  cane  or  fingering  his  guitar  below  the 
beauty-laden  window. 

What  does  Young  say  of  Bayonne  ?  "  By  much 
the  prettiest  town  I  have  seen  in  France  ;  the 
houses  not  only  well  built  of  stone,  but  the  streets 
wide.  .  .  .  The  river  is  broad,  and  many  of  the 
houses  being  fronted  to  it,  the  view  from  the  bridge 
is  line.  The  promenade  is  charming  ;  it  has  many 
rows  of  trees,  whose  heads  join  and  form  a  shade 
delicious  in  this  hot  climate.  In  the  evening  it 
was    thronged    with    well-dressed    people    of    both 

50 


Two   Southern  Capitals 

sexes,   and   the   women,    through   all   the    country, 
are  the  handsomest   I  have  seen  in  France." 


Young,  unfortunately,  only  skirted  the  true 
Basque  country.  We  could  well  have  done  with 
his  impressions  of  Ustaritz  ;  but  the  Basque  moun- 
tains were  at  least  as  prosperous  as  Beam,  and 
our  traveller  speaks  of  Beam  in  no  uncertain 
voice  :— 

"  In  coming  hither  (to  Bayonne)  from  Pau  I 
saw  what  is  very  rare  in  that  kingdom :  clean 
and  pretty  country  girls  ;  in  most  of  the  provinces 
hard  labour  destroys  both  person  and  complexion." 

On  the  road  to  Monein  he  comes  "  to  a  scene 
which  was  so  new  to  me  in  France  that  I  could 
hardly  believe  my  own  eyes.  A  succession  of 
many  well-built,  tight,  and  COMFORTABLE  farming 
cottages,  built  of  stone  and  covered  with  tiles ; 
each  having  its  little  garden,  inclosed  by  dipt  thorn 
hedges,  with  plenty  of  peach  and  other  fruit-trees. 
...  To  every  house  belongs  a  farm.  .  .  .  The 
men  are  all  dressed  with  red  caps  like  the  high- 
landers  of  Scotland,"  by  which  he  means  that  the 
biretta  is  shaped  like  the  tam-o'shanter.  "  There 
are  some  parts  of  England  (where  small  yeomen 
still  remain)  that  resemble  this  country  of  Beam  ; 
but  we  have  very  little  equal  to  what  I  have  seen 
in  this  ride  of  12  mi.  from  Pau  to  Monein. 
.  .  .  An  air  of  neatness,  warmth,  and  comfort 
breathes  over   the  whole    .    .    .   even   in  the   coops 

5i 


Pierre  Garat 

for  their  poultry  and  the  sties  for  their  hogs." 
A  peasant,  as  our  author  observes,  does  not 
think  of  his  pigs'  comfort  unless  his  own  is 
assured. 

All  through  the  Lower  Pyrenees  he  sees  marks 
of  the  same  comfort  and  plenty.  At  home  the 
Enclosures  Acts  were  doing  their  worst ;  the  sunny, 
peasant-owned  south  was  a  contrast  to  poor  land- 
hungry,  fast-breeding  England,  ill-drained  and 
aguish,  where  an  uneducated  aristocracy  was 
driving  a  degenerating,  disinherited  populace  along 
its  fatal  road  to  factory  and  mill  and  city  slum. 
Yet  it  was  France  that  revolted ;  in  England  a 
few  ricks  were  burned. 

After  some  stay  in  this  pleasant  country  of 
French  Navarre,  the  capital  reclaimed  our  singer, 
and  he  returned  :  across  the  vast  sandy  waste  of 
the  Landes,  desert  so  long  that  they  were  once 
thought  unfit  for  Christian  habitation,  and  the 
Court  (vide  Young)  had  considered  the  project 
of  populating  them  with  Moors  expelled  from 
Spain.  Along  the  white  sandy  roads,  through  a 
world  of  ling  and  heather,  gorse  and  broom, 
tamarisk  and  pines,  past  still  ponds  and  scurfy 
lagoons,  whence  the  eels,  on  nights  of  autumn 
tempest,  find  their  way  in  the  roaring  dark 
overland  to  the  compelling  sea.  Half -eager,  half- 
regrctful  he  must  have  returned,  for  he  was  leaving 
and  returning  to  a  home. 

52 


Two  Southern  Capitals 

With  his  return  to  Bordeaux  his  musical  studies 
reached  another  stage.  His  master  was  Beck,  who 
was  to  be  conductor  of  the  orchestra  of  the  Grand- 
Theatre  when  the  latter  was  opened  (which  was 
not  until  1780)  :  one  of  the  leading  musicians 
of  the  city.  A  native  of  Mannheim,  the  son  of 
a  councillor  to  the  Prince  Palatine,  who  was  him- 
self a  distinguished  violinist,  he  was  exiled  from 
the  Fatherland  on  account  of  an  unfortunate  duel. 
He  adopted  a  musical  career,  first  in  Paris,  then 
in  Bordeaux,  where  he  died,  in  1809,  in  his 
eightieth  year. 

Beck  continued  the  work  of  Lamberti,  teaching 
Garat  the  elements  of  music,  and  he  also  began  to 
discipline  his  voice.  Either  his  teaching  was 
mostly  directed  to  the  latter  end,  or  Garat  was 
an  indifferent  student  in  respect  of  theory,  for  years 
later  we  find  those  who  knew  Garat  well  debating 
as  to  whether  he  could  read  at  sight.  It  is  true 
that  it  was  the  fashion,  as  Garat  was  so  largely 
self-taught,  having  never  studied  in  any  famous 
school  of  vocalism  or  under  any  noted  singer, 
to  represent  him  as  a  sort  of  human  nightingale, 
a  singer  who  sang  purely  by  instinct.  This  was 
absurd,  for,  as  we  shall  see,  his  training,  if  unusual, 
was  lengthy  and  assiduous. 

With  the  theory  of  music— which  we  are  free 
to  suppose  he  rather  neglected— he  also  learned 
the  clavecin,  a  primitive  piano,  or  more  precisely 
a  species  of  harpsichord  :    sufficiently  well,  at  all 

53 


Pierre  Garat 

events,  to  accompany  himself  at  need.  But  his 
real  school  was  the  opera,  where  he  heard  all  the 
best  singers  of  the  day ;  for  in  those  days,  ere 
culture  had  forsaken  the  provincial  capitals  and 
the  mercantile  classes,  Bordeaux  commanded  the 
finest  singers.  Rameau,  Sacchini,  and  Gluck  were 
the  composers  most  in  vogue,  and  the  boy,  enrap- 
tured, never  missed  a  representation.  His  delight 
in  these  performances  may  be  gauged  by  his 
marvellous  memory  ;  for  he  was  soon  able  to  sing, 
after  hearing  it  once  or  twice,  the  music  of  an 
opera  from  prelude  to  finale  :  overture,  men's  parts, 
women's  parts,  choruses,  instrumental  passages— in 
short,  the  whole  melodic  score  from  end  to  end. 

It  was  now  that  his  real  schooling  began  :  Garat 
was  made  by  Garat,  not  by  Beck.  In  the  paternal 
mansion  in  the  Rue  Buhan  he  passed  hours  of 
almost  every  day  alone  in  his  own  chamber,  with 
shutters  closed,  the  curtains  drawn,  the  doors 
locked  ;  and  there,  in  darkness  and  privacy,  where 
neither  sound  nor  sight  could  distract  him,  he  gave 
his  absorbed  attention  to  every  part,  every  aspect 
of  his  craft :  breathing,  resonance,  timbre,  attack  ; 
singing  one  note,  one  phrase,  one  passage  again 
and  again  until  delivery  and  execution  and  expres- 
sion were  alike  perfect  :  trying  again  and  again, 
until  larynx  and  tongue  and  palate  were  all  in  just 
and  perfect  position  for  harmonious  vibration  : 
trying,  too,  all  manner  of  experiments  to  discover 

54 


Two  Southern  Capitals 

how  different  qualities  of  voice  were  to  be  pro- 
duced :  gaining  thus  an  extraordinary  command 
of  every  nerve  and  muscle,  until  correct  singing, 
and  even  the  correct  expression  of  emotion,  became 
almost  subconscious,  so  that  it  was  said  of  him 
that  none  ever  expressed  emotion  more  simply, 
directly,   and  naturally. 

By  such  means  he  increased  his  control  of  lungs, 
diaphragm,  vocal  chords,  tongue,  palate,  lips, 
nostrils,  until  he  could  at  will  assume  a  voice  of 
any  quality  he  desired,  and  could  even  reproduce 
personal  peculiarities.  His  powers  of  mimicry 
were  developed  with  as  much  pains  as  his  natural 
voice.  Nor  was  his  training  all  done  at  home. 
When  a  famous  singer,  or  one  he  desired  to 
mimic,  descended  upon  Bordeaux,  Garat  would  be 
present  at  every  public  appearance  of  his  model ; 
would  follow  him  through  the  city,  loiter  behind 
him  on  the  promenade,  watch  him  in  society,  in 
salon  or  foyer,  drinking  in  not  only  every  accent, 
but  every  gesture,  every  aspect  of  the  man,  until 
he  could  mentally,  so  to  speak,  project  himself 
into  the  other's  skin,  the  result  being  that  he  would 
sing  the  parts  taken  by  his  model  with  such  faith- 
ful perfection  that  his  listeners,  unless  they  saw 
him,  were  completely  deceived.  His  voice  was 
eventually  neither  bass  nor  baritone  nor  tenor  nor 
alto,  but  a  combination  of  all ;  the  whole  gamut 
of  the  human  voice,  in  pitch  and  quality  and 
expression,  was  conquered  in  those  years  of 
perseverance   in   his   darkened   chamber. 

55 


Pierre  Garat 

As  the  schooling  achieved  its  object,  as  Garat 
grew  toward  manhood,  he  became  known  in 
Bordeaux  as  a  prodigy,  a  marvellously  gifted 
amateur ;  though,  as  he  was  yet  in  his  own 
country,  it  is  likely  that  few  realized  how  gifted. 
But  his  powers  of  repetition  and  mimicry,  no  less 
than  his  higher  gifts,  were  always  in  demand,  and 
he  was  by  no  means  backward  in  response.  In 
the  Allies  de  Tourny,  that  pleasant  and  favourite 
promenade  of  the  Bordelais  people,  shadowed  and 
sheltered  by  the  splendid  trees  so  few  of  which 
remain  to-day,  it  was  his  custom,  as  it  was  the 
custom  of  all  his  little  world,  to  walk  of  an  evening, 
to  see  and  to  be  seen  ;  and  here,  surrounded  by 
friends,  he  would  sing  in  the  open  air.  These 
gatherings  were  his  first  considerable  audiences. 
Once,  it  is  related,  as  he  returned  with  Azevedo— 
a  native  of  Bordeaux,  like  himself,  who  was 
later,  like  himself,  to  win  fame  in  Paris — from 
the  first  performance  in  Bordeaux  of  Gluck's 
Orpheus,  with  Saint-Huberty  l  as  the  leading  singer, 
the  two  broke  out  into  song,  repeating  passage 
after  passage,  discussing  its  beauty,  and  again 
bursting    into    song,    until    all    sense    of    time   was 

1  Mile,  de  Saint-Huberty  was  received  in  the  South  with  the 
honours  due  to  divinity.  We  read  of  her  entering  Marseilles  by  sea 
in  a  gorgeously  decorated  barge  with  eight  rowers ;  surrounded  by 
flowers  and  sheltered  by  a  silken  awning  ;  after  her  three  hundred 
boats  all  decorated  with  flags  and  flowers.  On  landing  salutes  were 
fired,  and  she  reclined  upon  a  sort  of  throne  while  the  dignitaries 
of  the  seaport  paid  their  homage. 

56 


Two  Southern  Capitals 

lost  and  the  last  loiterers  had  withdrawn,  so  that 
the  two  spent  the  whole  night  abroad  singing 
Orpheus  to  the  trees  and  stars. 

His  audiences  were  appreciative.  On  another 
occasion  he  was  singing  a  Gascon  air,  surrounded 
by  friends,  when  a  neighbouring  group  became 
unduly  noisy,  disturbing  the  enchanted  listeners. 
One  of  his  companions,  one  Brochon,  of  a  parlia- 
mentary family,  later  himself  an  advocate,  whipped 
out  his  dress-sword  and  approached  the  offenders, 
threatening  to  transfix  the  first  who  should  again 
interrupt  his  enjoyment  of  the  singer. 

These  informal  parties  were  not  his  only 
audiences.  He  sang  much  in  the  salons  of 
Bordeaux,  accompanied  by  a  friend,  or  striking 
chords  on  his  clavecin  ;  his  song  some  old  Basque 
ballad  or  an  aria  from  the  latest  opera  of  Gluck 
or  Rameau.  He  sang,  too,  in  the  numerous 
concerts  directed  by  his  teacher,  Beck,  the  best  of 
which  were  given  by  the  Societe  du  Mus6e,  of 
which  all  the  cultured  spirits  of  Guyenne  were; 
members.  Whether  Garat  sang  at  these  seems 
doubtful,  for  in  1782  he  proceeded  to  Paris;  yet 
Lafond,  who  states  that  he  did,  gives  the  date  of 
the  foundation  of  the  society  as  1783.  Be  this 
as  it  may,  he  seems  to  have  sung  in  such  good 
company  as  that  of  Saint-Huberty,  Gervais,  Punto, 
and  possibly  Rode  ;  the  two  latter  his  colleagues 
at  a  later  date,  when  the  Terror  found  them  in 
Rouen . 

57 


Pierre  Garat 

But  his  brilliant  boyhood  was  drawing  to  a  close. 
His  father,  conceiving  the  profession  of  advocate 
as  the  most  worthy  open  to  a  Bordelais,  despatched 
him  to  Paris  to  commence  his  reading  for  the  Bar. 
The  faculty  of  Toulouse  was  more  generally  re- 
sponsible for  the  training  of  the  youthful  talent 
of  Bordeaux.  We  do  not  know  precisely  why 
Garat  was  sent  to  Paris,  but  the  presence  of  his 
uncle  may  have  had  something  to  do  with  the 
decision :  Dominique-Joseph  was  then  a  promi- 
nent author,  crowned  by  the  Academy,  and  soon 
to  be  appointed  Professor  of  History  at  the 
Athenaeum.  At  all  events,  to  Paris  he  pro- 
ceeded, in  his  twentieth  year.  It  was  the  autumn 
of   1782. 


58 


PIERRE-JEAN   GARAT. 

From  an  etching  by  Lafond. 


DOMINIQUE-JOSEPH    GARAT,    COUNT    OF    THE    EMPIRE. 
From  an  engraving. 


CHAPTER    III 

THE   YOUNG   MAN   FROM   THE   COUNTRY 

Why  Garat  did  not  become  an  actor— Paris  in  1782 — A  nation 
of  idlers — Sensation  caused  by  Garat's  talents — Paris  gossip 
— Aeronautics ;  Mesmer ;  Cagliostro — The  golden  age  of 
France— Society  in  1782 — How  Paris  amused  itself — The 
Opera ;  the  Palais-Royal ;  the  Tuileries ;  the  Champs  Elysees 
&c. — Longchamps— Dancing — Garat  in  society — His  success 
— To  meet  the  Queen — The  concert  in  the  Invalides. 

The  journey  to  Paris  was  a  time  of  magic.  To 
be  twenty,  with  Paris  as  one's  oyster,  and  a  suc- 
cessful uncle  as  the  knife  :  and  this  in  the  days 
when  Paris  was  truly  Paris  ! 

As  the  coach  rocked  and  rolled  across  France, 
did  Garat  believe  that  his  destiny  was  really  to 
wear  the  ermine?  It  is  probable.  He  had  his 
excellent  bourgeois  pride  :  the  comedian,  the  opera- 
singer,  was  still  an  outlaw,  in  some  degree  an 
outcast,  even  though  a  popular  demigod  and  the 
favourite  of  princes.  If  on  that  journey  he  had 
thoughts  of  the  theatre  as  a  career,  he  would  soon 
have  realized,  on  reaching  Paris,  what  was  the 
true  position  of  the  actor,  and  what  position  he 
himself  might  reach  ;  but  the  world  of  the  theatre 
was  not  unknown  to  him. 

59 


Pierre  Garat 

We  may  suppose  that  the  uncle  was  useful  to 
him  ;  was  proud  of  this  marvellous  nephew  ;  de- 
lighted to  set  his  feet  on  the  steps  of  the  social 
ladder  ;  for  Paris  almost  at  once  was  keenly  aware 
of  his  presence.  But  after  obtaining  his  social 
footing,  after  presenting  letters  and  feeling  his  way, 
we  may  guess  that  his  first  preoccupation  was  Paris 
herself :  Paris  at  the  height  of  her  fame,  her 
brilliance,   her  corruption. 

The  first  sight  of  Paris  in  those  days  was  apt 
to  be  a  cause  of  disillusion.  The  streets  were 
not  only  narrow,  but  unspeakably  filthy.  In 
the  dry,  sunny  streets  of  Bordeaux  the  substantial 
citizen— merchant,  advocate,  shipowner,  or  captain 
— walked  in  dignity  and  embroidered  silks,  bearing 
a  sword  or  tasselled  cane :  as  good  a  man  to 
look  at  as  any,  and  as  good  to  his  own  thinking. 
In  Paris  the  man  of  modest  means  or  saving  dis- 
position went  habited  in  dreary  black ;  for  the 
streets  had  no  pavements,  and  the  young  bloods, 
dashing  by  in  cabriolets,  spattered  the  pedestrian 
with  the  vile  mud  of  an  unscavenged  city.  Worse 
than  mud  lay  underfoot  at  times,  for  Paris  knew 
no  public  abattoir ;  the  herds  of  cattle  that  fed  the 
city  were  driven  carelessly  into  the  narrow  streets 
and  pole-axed  wherever  convenient— to  the  butcher  ; 
even  before  private  houses  the  gutters  reeked  with 
blood  and  offal.  At  night  there  was  darkness, 
save  only  in  the  resorts  of  society. 

60 


The  Young  Man  from  the  Country 

The  second  impression  which  the  stranger  to 
Paris  received  was  the  immensity  of  the  popula- 
tion, and  its  idleness.  "  I  remember  a  foreigner," 
says  Thiebault,  "  who,  having  left  Longchamps 
(incredibly  crowded)  at  an  early  hour,  went 
through  the  Tuileries  and  found  them  packed  with 
people  ;  tried  to  enter  Saint-Germain  l'Auxerrois, 
but  could  not ;  went  to  pay  some  visits,  to  find 
that  no  one  had  left  home,  and  finished  his  day 
at  the  theatre,  where  he  had  the  greatest  difficulty 
in  the  world  to  find  a  place.  '  What  a  city  !  ' 
he  said,  '  where  Longchamps,  the  promenades, 
the  churches,  the  salons,  and  the  theatres  are  all 
crammed  at  the  same  time,  and  where  you  find 
everybody  in  each  of  these  places,  although  you 
would  think  any  one  alone  would  hold  them  all  !  '  " 

It  was  a  plain  sign  of  the  times.  France  was 
dying  of  an  excess  of  unproductive  mouths  ;  Paris 
was  the  capital,  and  her  chief  business  was  to  be 
amused. 

Life  in  such  a  city  was  a  dizzy  affair.  Few 
men  had  a  saner  nature  than  Gouverneur 
Morris,  who  was  sobered,  moreover,  by  a 
wooden  leg ;  but  even  he  complains  :  "  A  man 
in  Paris  lives  in  a  sort  of  whirlwind  which  turns 
him  round  so  fast  that  he  can  see  nothing,  and 
as  all  men  and  things  are  in  the  same  vertiginous 
situation  you  can  neither  fix  yourself  nor  your 
object  for  regular  examination.  Hence  the  people 
of  this  metropolis  are  under  the  necessity  of  pro- 

61 


Pierre  Garat 

nouncing  their  definitive  judgement  from  the  first 
glance,  and  being  thus  habituated  to  shoot  flying 
they  have  what  the  sportsmen  call  a  quick  sight. 
It  is  true  that  like  other  sportsmen  they  some- 
times miss,  but  they  have  a  thousand  other  excuses 
beside  the  want  of  skill." 

They  were  not  long  in  winging  Garat,  and  their 
aim  was  a  little  wide. 

Bachaumont,  who  wrote  the  chronique  scandal- 
ease  of  the  time,  has  an  entry  under  October  3  ist  : 
"  A  young  Bbrdelais  named  Garat,  son  of  an 
advocate  of  the  same  name,  and  nephew  of  Garat 
the  man  of  letters  who  has  settled  in  Paris,  has 
come  to  find  his  uncle.  He  is  endowed  with  the 
most  beautiful  and  marvellous  voice,  and  there- 
fore hopes  to  meet  with  success  in  Paris.  Without 
knowing  a  note  of  music  [a  mistake  the  young 
scamp  was  only  too  willing  should  be  made]  he 
imitates,  with  a  perfection  of  illusion,  the  voices 
of  all  the  actors  and  actresses,  all  the  instruments 
of  an  Orchestra,  and  by  himself  he  will  execute 
an  entire  Opera.  The  first  composers  of  this 
capital,  MM.  Piccini,  Sacchini,  Gretry,  Philidor, 
could  not  credit  this  prodigy,  and  were  convinced 
by  their  own  ears.  This  unique  talent  has  quickly 
made  him  popular  among  the  celebrated  actresses 
and  the  fashionable  cocottes  of  the  capital,  and 
he  is  for  whosoever  will  have  him.  He  is  only 
eighteen  years  old;    he  is  not  unhandsome.    .    .    . 

62 


The  Young  Man  from  the  Country 

To-day  it  is  Mme.  Dugazon  who  has  taken  posses- 
sion of  him.  Those  who  are  interested  in  him 
are  vexed  that  he  wastes  himself  in  this  way. 
However,  before  his  voice  and  his  talent  are  lost, 
as  they  soon  will  be,  it  is  hoped  he  will  appear 
at  Court,  and  there  is  much  talk  of  engaging  the 
Queen  to  hear  him." 

A  little  smoke,  in  Paris,  was  held  to  argue  a 
large  fire.  A  brilliant  boy,  intoxicated  with  life 
and  his  first  glimpse  of  the  world,  an  eager  squire 
of  equally  eager  dames,  he  may  easily  have  seemed 
a  greater  rake  than  he  was.  At  all  events,  it  took 
some  thirty  years  for  his  voice  to  disappear  ;  as 
for  his  talent,  it  never  did  other  than  increase. 
Well  for  him,  perhaps,  that  Mme.  Dugazon  had 
assumed  possession  of  him  ;  the  connection  was 
lasting,  and  was  like  to  save  him  from  worse 
adventures. 

He  was  twenty,  not  eighteen  ;  he  was  very  soon 
writing  music ;  and  he  came  to  Paris  to  study 
law.  Apart  from  these  few  discrepancies,  the 
paragraph  describes  his  position  fairly  enough. 
To  be  the  talk  of  Paris  while  yet  in  his  nonage, 
after  a  sojourn  of  only  a  few  weeks,  was  no  small 
triumph   for   a  young  man   from   the   provinces. 

What  else  did  Paris  talk  of  that  wet  autumn  ? 
Its  gossip  will  give  us  the  note  of  the  time. 

Hypnotism  and  aerial  navigation  «  have  a  modern 

1  In  the  following  year  Montgolfier  sent  up  a  sheep,  a  cock,  and 
a  duck  in  a   fire-balloon  ;    Des   Rosiers  and  d'Arlands   hung  over 

63 


Pierre  Garat 

sound;  but  Paris,  in  this  autumn  of  1782,  is 
chattering  of  both.  Mesmer  '  is  in  Paris,  divulging 
his  secret  to  whosoever  will  pay  him  a  hundred 
pounds  ;  he  and  his  disciples  are  working  their 
marvellous  cures  ;  their  salons  are  crowded  and 
their  purses  full.  Cagliostro,  also,  purveyor  of 
eternal  youth,  Freemason  and  occultist,  is  protected 
by  no  less  a  personage  than  the  Cardinal  de 
Rohan,  whose  chief  anxiety  at  present  is  recon- 
ciliation with  Marie  Antoinette.  A  Chinese  cafe 
has  just  been  opened;  M.  d'£tienne  has  surprised 
the  city  by  the  construction  of  a  roof -garden  ;    a 

Paris  for  half  an  hour,  descending  black  as  sweeps ;  and  the  first 
hydrogen  balloon  was  successfully  launched  by  Charles  and  Robert. 
Blanchard  eventually  crossed  the  Channel  with  Dr.  Jeffries,  an 
American,  in  January,   1785. 

1  Mesmer  was  the  "  discoverer  "  not  of  what  is  to-day  erroneously 
termed  mesmerism — that  is,  of  hypnotism — but  of  "  animal  mag- 
netism." The  "  magnetizer "  hypnotized  himself  as  much  as  his 
patient.  The  process  of  "  magnetization  "  consisted  in  a  "  laying-on 
of  hands,"  and  the  making  of  passes  in  a  "circuit."  The  operator 
felt,  by  "magnetic  sympathy,"  the  condition  of  the  patient's  organs, 
and  by  means  of  "  magnetism  "  drew  forth  the  disease.  That  is,  he 
hypnotized  himself  into  believing  that  he  felt  by  physical  divination 
what  was  really  diagnosed  by  his  subconscious  intelligence  from 
visible  or  tangible  symptoms.  Naturally  the  best  physician  was  the 
best  diviner.  As  for  the  good  done  to  the  patient,  that  was  a  matter 
of  suggestion.  Trances  occurred  on  occasion ;  sometimes  con- 
vulsions, and  the  true  catalepsis ;  but  they  were  not  produced 
intentionally.  De  Puysegur  discovered  that  the  best  results  were 
obtained  by  purposely  inducing  the  trance  or  catalepsis,  and  then 
applying  suggestion.  A  committee,  of  which  Franklin  and  Lavoisier 
were  members,  "  exposed "  Mesmer,  and  his  followers  saw  their 
patients  fall  away. 

64 


The  Young  Man  from  the  Country 

gambler,  one  Sieur  Loiret,  has  hurled  a  rich 
merchant  over  a  staircase  and  killed  him,  he  him- 
self having  been  discovered  with  the  merchant's 
mistress,  and  all  disreputable  Paris  is  intensely 
interested  in  the  fate  of  the  murderer  and  the  frail 
subject  of  the  quarrel.  A  prince  of  the  house 
of  Rohan  is  declared  bankrupt  for  an  enormous 
sum,  and  both  he  and  his  wife  are  found  guilty 
of  extensive  embezzlement.  Certain  ladies  of  the 
Opera  are  so  touched  by  his  misfortune  that  they 
beg  him  to  withdraw  the  handsome  "  pensions  " 
which  he  allows  them,  and  to  employ  the  money 
in  assisting  his  own  discharged  domestics.  All 
Paris  is  laughing  over  The  Cabbage  and  the  Turnip, 
a  poem  which  has  taken  the  place  of  a  duel.  A 
witty  noble  has  lost  his  wealth,  and  with  it  his 
friends.  One  of  these,  the  Abbe  Delille,  has  not 
only  deserted  him,  but  has  spoken  of  him  con- 
temptuously. "  I  cannot  fight  you,"  says  the  wit, 
"  but  unless  you  apologize  I  shall  publish  this 
poem."  The  Abbe  is  obdurate  ;  the  poem  appears  ; 
14,000  copies  are  sold;  the  Queen  knows  it  by 
heart.  A  still  more  terrible  effort  is  held  over 
the  Abbe's  head,  and  he  surrenders.  Tom  Jones 
in  London  is  the  latest  success  at  the  Theatre 
Italien,  with  Mme.  Dugazon  in  the  leading  role . 
A  long  and  historic  quarrel  is  afoot  between  the 
Parliament  of  Besancon,  unwilling  to  overtax  an 
impoverished  province,  and  the  King.  All  Paris 
is   agog   to   read   the   latest   news    of   the   dispute. 

65  e 


Pierre  Garat 

A  new  dancer  has  come  over  from  London  :  Mile. 
Bacelli,  greatly  praised  ;  but  her  style  turns  out 
to  be  the  old  style.  Nothing  more  of  importance, 
save  that  various  royalties  are  being  inoculated 
for  smallpox ;  the  King's  youngest  brother  is 
always  requiring  to  have  his  debts  paid  ;  the  Court 
is  growing  daily  more  corrupt  and  more  extra- 
vagant ;  the  middle  classes  are  growing  restive 
at  the  abuse  of  privilege;  M.  de  Mirabeau's  son 
has  written  an  attack  upon  lettres  de  cachet,  being 
himself  in  prison  ;  while  the  musical  world  of  Paris, 
and  scarcely  less  the  greater  world,  is  divided  into 
two  camps  in  respect  of  two  musical  feuds— the 
Gluck-Piccini  feud  and  the  Mara-Todi  quarrel. 

Socially,  it  was  a  strange  world  that  our  young 
law -student  found  at  his  feet.  Writing  in  old  age, 
after  the  Restoration,  men  who  had  survived  the 
Revolution  saw  it  through  a  golden  mist.  "  Was 
there  ever  a  more  wonderful  period  than  the  early 
years  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XVI  ?  Who  did  not 
live  through  the  years  bordering  upon  1789  knows 
not  what  the  pleasure  of  life  may  be,"  said  Talley- 
rand to  Guizot ;  and  Chateaubriand  :  "  He  has  seen 
nothing  who  did  not  see  the  pomp  of  Versailles." 
They  speak,  these  aged  relics  of  the  anclen  regime, 
of  the  exquisite  urbanity  of  manners,  the  perfect 
elegance  of  life,  the  marvellous  pageant  of  society. 

The  light  that  never  was  on  land  or  sea  is  not 
the  sole  prerogative  of  childhood.     Actually,  there 

66 


The  Young  Man  from  the  Country 

were  many  flies  in  the  ointment :  much  of  the 
population  of  Paris  lived  in  infected  slums,  in 
cellars,  in  mere  holes  in  the  ground,  flooded  when- 
ever the  Seine  rose  or  the  rain  fell  abundantly  ; 
the  dregs  of  the  old  criminal  population  of  the 
city  and  the  result  of  that  stream  of  incompetence 
and  degeneracy  which,  no  less  than  youth  and 
energy,  sets  in  from  the  country  to  the  capital. 
Thiebault  speaks  of  the  utter  hideousness  of  these 
people,  exceeding  anything  to  be  seen  three 
generations  later.  And  they,  like  the  courtiers, 
were  largely  idle  ;  they,  too,  amused  themselves  ; 
they,  or  the  smarter  riff-raff  of  the  city,  no  less 
dangerous,  no  more  moral,  were  to  be  seen  on 
the  boulevards,  the  promenades,  and  at  all  but  the 
selecter  spectacles  of  Paris.  The  wealthiest  could 
not  wholly  avoid  the  sight  of  them.  Even  the  Court 
was  not,  one  fancies,  quite  the  magical  world  the 
old  monarchists  imagined.  The  "  grand  manner  " 
at  its  best  was  doubtless  a  thing  to  delight  in  ; 
but  it  was  often  arrogance,  insolence,  bad  instead 
of  good  breeding. 

Below  the  surface  the  corruption  was  frightful. 
This  is  not  to  say  that  every  Parisian  was  a 
scoundrel.  Scoundrelism  is  a  matter  of  the  con- 
science :  the  ideals  of  that  age  were  so  low  that 
it  was  easy  to  live  up  to  them,  which  is  in  a 
sense  to  be  upright.  Places  were  sold  unblush- 
ingly ;     blackmail     and     embezzlement     were     the 

67 


Pierre  Garat 

foundation  of  many  noble  fortunes ;  it  was  a 
selfish  world,  a  callous  world,  an  obtuse  world — 
too  obtuse  to  be  often  actively  wicked.  Without 
being  censorious,  one  may  say  that  it  was  im- 
moral ;  for  it  professed,  and  in  some  degree 
believed,  the  old  moral  laws,  but  evaded  them 
privately,  or,  if  wealthy  enough,  unblushingly. 
Marriages  then  more  than  ever  were  arranged ; 
the  women  were  married  from  the  convent ;  both 
men  and  women  inevitably  looked  for  romance 
outside  the  home.  If  they  did  not  actually  engage 
in  intrigue,  they  were  careful  to  give  the  impression 
that  they  did  so. 

The  worst  eccentricities  of  fashion  had  been 
abandoned,  thanks  to  public  opinion  and  the 
simpler  German  tastes  of  Marie  Antoinette.  The 
coiffure  was  low ;  but  paniers  or  poches  gave 
the  fashionable  lady  the  figure  of  a  "  Hottentot 
Venus,"  tottering  on  impossibly  high  heels. 
Rouge  and  patches  were  de  rigueur  in  high 
circles.  The  men  were  beginning  to  carry  the  hat 
under  the  arm  ;  the  powdered  hair  was  held  at 
the  back  in  a  bag ;  the  coat  was  braided  or 
embroidered  ;  and  the  well-dressed  man  wore  two 
watch-chains,  loaded  with  innumerable  charms. 
The  bearing  out  of  doors  was  stiff  and  haughty  ; 
within  doors  "  a  marvellous  suppleness  attacked 
the  spine,  a  complacent  smile  succeeded  the  severe 
one,   and   conversation   was   full   of  adulation   and 

servility." 

68 


The  Young  Man  from  the  Country 

Where  did  this  world  amuse  itself?  Much  of 
the  social  life  of  Paris  was  lived  out  of  doors. 
Ready  money  was  not  too  abundant ;  entertain- 
ment on  any  scale  of  magnificence  was  a  terrible 
business.  A  Rohan  estimated  that  no  man  of 
position  could  live  on  less  than  £60,000  a  year. 
It  was  easier  to  keep  up  appearances,  for  those 
who  were  not  wealthy,  if  the  social  existence  was 
passed  away  from  home ;  it  was  always  less 
troublesome.  Moreover,  the  promenades  of  Paris 
were  the  meeting-places  of  society,  where  news  was 
exchanged  and  parties  made  up. 

First  on  the  list  of  these  fashionable  resorts  at 
which  the  young  Garat  began  to  appear  we  should 
place  the  garden  of  the  Palais-Royal,  the  residence 
of  the  Orleans  family.  This  garden  was  the 
resort,  all  day,  of  idlers  of  all  degrees  ;  in  the 
surrounding  wings  were  cafes,  frequented  by  that 
brigade  of  persons  with  no  visible  means  of  or 
object  in  living  which  is  found  in  every  capital ; 
and  booksellers'  shops  which  published  the  popular 
news-sheets,  lampoons,  and  ballads  of  the  day,  and 
were  always  the  foci  of  a  humming,  gossiping 
crowd.  On  Sundays  and  fete-days  the  world,  his 
wife,  and  his  offspring  went  thither.  It  was  a 
very  large  garden  before  new  buildings  hemmed 
it  in  ;  "to  the  left  was  a  very  wide  and  very 
long  alley,  covered  with  enormous  trees,  which 
formed  a  vault   impenetrable   to   the   sun.       There 

69 


Pierre  Garat 

assembled  the  respectable  world,  in  very  fine 
feathers.  As  for  the  other  world,  it  took  refuge 
further  off  under  the  quinconces. 

"  The  Opera  was  then  close  at  hand  ;  it  belonged 
to  the  Palace.  On  summer  nights  the  opera  was 
over  at  half-past  eight,  and  all  the  elegant  world 
left  even  before  then,  in  order  to  stroll  in  the 
garden.  It  was  then  the  fashion  for  women  to 
carry  huge  bouquets,  which,  together  with  the 
scented  powders  with  which  all  perfumed  their  hair, 
absolutely  embalmed  the  air  one  breathed.  Later 
.  .  .  these  evenings  were  prolonged  until  two  in 
the  morning  ;  there  was  music  by  moonlight,  in 
the  open  air.  Artists  and  amateurs,  among  others 
Garat  and  Azevedo,  used  to  sing  there.  Others 
played  the  harp  and  the  guitar  ;  the  famous  Saint- 
Georges  often  played  the  violin  ;  the  crowd  would 
flock  thither." 

So  Mme.  Le  Brun  :  one  of  Garat's  first 
hostesses.  By  the  following  year  he  was  sing- 
ing at  her  suppers,  with  Azevedo,  Richer,  Todi, 
Saint-Huberty  ;  while  Gretry,  Sacchini,  and  Martini 
would  play  snatches  from  their  forthcoming  operas. 
But  this  is  to  anticipate. 

This  garden  of  the  Palais-Royal  was  the  battle- 
field of  the   Gluckists  and  the  Piccinists.1       "All 

1  Piccini  was  the  champion  of  the  Italian  school  of  opera  and 
of  singing;  for  him  the  music  and  the  singer  were  supreme.  Gluck 
aimed  at  reducing  music  "  to  its  true  function  of  seconding  poetry." 
Marmontel,  La  Harpe,  d'Alembert,  and  Rousseau  were  for  Gluck. 
Volumes  were  written  on  the  subject,  which  attracted  more  notice 
and  caused  more  feeling  than  the  condition  of  France. 

70 


The  Young  Man  from  the  Country 

the  amateurs  were  divided  into  two  parties,  who 
raged  against  one  another.  There  the  partisans 
of  the  two  composers  disputed  with  such  violence 
that  more  than  one  duel  resulted." 

Here  you  would  see  the  Marquise  de  Grollier, 
Mme.  de  Verdun,  the  Marquise  de  Sab  ran,  the 
Comtesse  de  Segur,  and  many  another  Parisian 
hostess  ;  here  supper-parties  were  recruited  after 
the  theatre ;  and  after  supper  there  would  be 
more  music,  or  charades,  or  the  reading  of  verse, 
or  dancing. 

Next  in  popularity  to  the  garden  of  the  Palais- 
Royal  were  the  gardens  of  the  Tuileries.  These 
were  the  habitual  resort  of  the  beauties  of  the 
city.  Day  after  day  you  might  see  the  same 
faces  ;  half  your  acquaintance  would  pass,  and  a 
thousand  others,  unknown,  but  at  last  as  familiar 
as  friends.  As  all  went  thither  to  see  and  be 
seen,  but  were  not  all  of  the  same  social  world, 
nicknames  were  freely  bestowed.  Young  men 
attended  daily  to  gain  a  glimpse  of  unknown 
idols,  perchance  to  scrape  their  acquaintance  ; 
following  some  ravishing  beauty  in  her  peregri- 
nations, criticizing  her  for  the  benefit  of  friends 
or  listeners,  loudly,  in  the  tone  of  a  blase  man 
of  the  world. 

Here,  on  certain  days,  were  rows  of  booths,  a 
genuine  Vanity  Eair  ;  selling  gloves,  laces,  ribbons, 
books  and  papers,  cakes  and  children's  toys.  In 
1788  a  Pole  appeared,  who  in  three  minutes,  for 

7* 


Pierre  Garat 

the  sum  of  one  franc,  produced  an  admirable 
silhouette,  cut  out  of  black  paper.  He  must  have 
made  a  fortune  but  for  the  Revolution  ;  not  only 
was  the  silhouette  portrait  popular,  but  this  par- 
ticular artist  was  prompt  and  accommodating ; 
point  out  the  lady  of  your  dreams,  whom  you  had 
first  caught  a  glimpse  of  five  minutes  earlier,  or 
followed,  perchance,  for  half  a  season,  and  in  three 
short  minutes,  after  one  comprehending  glance,  he 
would  hand  you  her  portrait,  to  be  carried  next 
your  heart,  beneath  that  beautifully  embroidered 
waistcoat . 

After  the  Tuileries,  the  Champs  Elysees.  Here 
the  day  began  early  ;  at  six  in  the  morning  you 
might  buy  a  glass  of  milk  at  the  cowkeeper's  tent. 
Here  was  much  the  same  exhibition  of  fashion 
and  leisure  ;  here,  too,  the  young  man  from  the 
provinces  was  to  gaze  upon  the  world  of  Paris, 
ruffle  it  with  the  rest,  and  eventually  win  supre- 
macy as  the  true  arbiter  of  fashion,  the  perfect 
exquisite.  But  as  yet  the  making  of  the  dandy 
had  hardly  commenced. 

The  Boulevard  du  Temple  was  the  Rotten  Row 
of  Paris.  Every  day,  but  especially  on  Thursday, 
the  alleys  were  full  of  carriages  :  coining  and 
going,  or  stationed  under  the  trees,  under  whose 
boughs  that  glittering  silken  world  moved  in  a 
sea  of  laughter  and  perfume,  plashed  with  the 
living  gold  of  the  sun  or  the  coolness  of  flicker- 
ing   shadow.      Here    the    younger    men    came    on 

72 


The  Young  Man  from   the  Country 

horseback,  continually  reminding  their  steeds  to 
be  troublesome.  Here  the  famous  courtesans  of 
the  city  came  to  eclipse  virtue,  or  to  exhibit  their 
latest  conquest.  Birth  they  had  not ;  virtue  they 
had  not ;  beauty  was  shared  by  others  ;  what  was 
left  but  to  make  a  wonder  of  their  essential  charac- 
teristic—a genius  for  waste?  Two  horses  were 
not  always  enough  for  these  ladies ;  four  were 
common  ;  and  one  Mile.  Renard  once  appeared 
with  those  four  covered  with  paste  diamonds.  As 
for  their  carriages,  they  partook  of  the  nature  of 
a  state-coach,  and  were  more  suited  to  the  theatre 
or  the  carnival  than  for  an  afternoon  drive. 

One  side  of  the  Boulevard  du  Temple  was  lined 
with  cafes,  where  thickly-rouged  old  women  gravely 
watched  the  spectacle,  returning  home  to  the 
dissipation  of  loto.  One  of  these  worthies,  hear- 
ing that  La  Perouse  was  absent  to  circumnavigate 
the  world,  is  said  to  have  exclaimed,  "  Well,  he 
must  indeed  be  an  idle  man  !  "  After  which  she 
went  homeward  to  her  loto  or  solitaire. 

Here,  when  you  wearied  of  mingling  with  the 
crowd,  or  watching  from  the  vantage  of  the  cafe, 
you  might  turn  into  the  Fantoccini  of  Carlo  Perici, 
to  watch  the  latest  marionette  play.  Later  in  the 
day  the  Coliseum  drew  its  patrons  ;  a  vast  rotunda 
in  the  Champs  Elysees,  where  sanded  alleys  sur- 
rounded a  lake,  the  scene  of  water-tournaments 
and  the  like  diversions.  The  Coliseum  included 
a  large  concert-hall,  where  an  excellent  orchestra 

73 


Pierre  Garat 

played  in  the  evening  and  the  leading  singers 
appeared.  The  stairs  of  this  hall  were  the  rendez- 
vous of  all  the  budding  elegants  of  Paris.  Here 
they  formed  up,  a  phalanx  of  masculine  critics, 
to  stare  at  the  women  who  entered  or  left ; 
here  Philippe  Egalite,  then  merely  the  Due 
de  Chartres,  might  be  seen  arm-in-arm  with 
the  Marquis  de  Genlis.  The  usual  tone  of 
the  criticisms  lanced  at  passing  beauty  was 
embarrassing  to  the  virtuous ;  but  the  critic, 
after  raising  a  cackle  of  laughter,  squared  his 
shoulders  and  felt  that  he,  too,  was  a  wit  and 
a  dog  and  a  true  Parisian. 

Not  unlike  the  Coliseum,  and  on  the  Boulevard 
du  Temple,  the  Vauxhall  garden  was  crowded  on 
summer  nights.  It  was  merely  an  enclosed  pro- 
menade, where  people  strolled  by  day  ;  surrounded 
by  covered  stands  of  seats,  whence  at  night  they 
watched  a   display   of   fireworks. 

The  Bois  de  Boulogne  was  then,  as  now,  fre- 
quented by  riders  and  pedestrians.  But  ot  all  the 
promenades  of  Paris  the  most  famous  was  Long- 
champs.  For  three  days,  in  April,  the  spectacle 
was  unmatched  in  Europe.  "  All  that  a  vast  city, 
a  brilliant  and  sumptuous  court,  great  fortunes, 
and  extravagance  limited  only  by  the  impossibility 
of  exceeding  it,  all  that  the  rivalry  of  the  richest 
people  and  the  fashions  of  the  maddest  could 
produce  of  magnificence,  was  to  be  witnessed  here. 

74 


The  Young  Man  from   the  Country 

.  .  .  Amid  an  innumerable  quantity  of  remark- 
able carriages  there  shone  each  year  some  fifty 
dazzling  turn-outs,  of  which  a  dozen  or  so  seemed 
the  cars  of  goddesses  rather  than  the  chariots  of 
mere  mortals.  The  world  seemed  to  give  itself 
up  to  merriment  during  these  three  days  ;  but  the 
extravagances  of  some  of  the  courtesans  were 
carried  to  such  a  point  that  the  police  were  obliged 
to  intervene,  lest  they  should  too  far  eclipse  the 
great  and  royalty  itself.  Thus  Duthe,  the  charming 
woman  who  told  the  Comte  d'Artois  '  that  after 
eating  a  Savoy  cake  he  must  take  tea— da  the  ' — 
was  arrested,  despite  her  influential  lovers,  right 
in  the  middle  of  the  avenue  and  taken  to  Fors 
l'Eveque."  l  Her  carriage  had  "  a  body  decorated 
with  doves,  arabesques  and  other  ornaments,  by 
the  most  famous  painter  in  this  genre,  a  pupil 
of  Boucher's,  and  was  upholstered  with  sachets 
of  sweet  perfumes  ;  it  was  borne  upon  a  gilt  shell, 
rimmed  with  mother-of-pearl,  upheld  by  bronze 
Tritons.  The  hubs  of  the  wheels  were  of  solid 
silver.;  the  white  horses  were  shod  with  silver, 
harnessed  with  gold  and  heavy  green  silk,  and— 
supreme  indecency  !— wore  plumes.  On  this  shell 
advanced  Duthe,  in  tights  of  flesh-coloured  taffetas, 
covered  by  a  very  transparent  chemisette  of 
organdie ;  she  wore  a  '  cash-box  '  hat  of  black 
gauze— that  is,  it  had  no  bottom."  2  Undeterred 
by  disaster,  a  rival  of  this  Aspasia  indulged  in  six 

1  Thiebault.  2  Mme.  de  Crequy. 

75 


Pierre  Garat 

horses,  whose  harness  and  reins  were  encrusted 
with  paste ;  but  "  as  she  mounted  her  rolling 
throne  she  was  warned  that  if  she  passed  her  gates 
in  this  equipage  it  would  conduct  her  to  prison." 
"  I  remember  ...  a  sky-blue  caleche,  on  which 
doves  fluttered  across  trailing  white  clouds  .  .  . 
drawn  by  four  horses  whose  harness  was  in 
chiselled   or   embroidered   silver."  l 

It  was  here  that  people  watched  for  Garat,  in 
his  later  days  of  triumph,  to  learn  the  latest  way 
of  folding  a  cravat,  the  length  of  waistcoat  for 
the  coming  season,  the  amount  of  gold  that  the 
coat  might  carry.  For  the  crowd  of  spectators 
was  not  the  least  amazing  part  of  the  show.  The 
roadway  was  lined  with  people  of  all  conditions. 
"  It  is  impossible  to  unite  Frenchmen  without 
exciting  gaiety  and  a  wealth  of  pointed  sallies  ; 
according  to  his  condition  and  the  opinion  formed 
of  him,  every  person  at  all  known  received  his  dose. 
Nothing  escaped  this  kind  of  inquest  :  carriage, 
toilette,  face,  fortune,  the  manner  in  which  the 
latter  was  acquired,  conduct,  reputation,  career, 
merit,  all  was  judged.  As  no  consideration  checked 
or  troubled  the  members  of  this  tribunal,  they  did 
not  moderate  their  remarks,  and  as  nothing  escaped 
investigation,  and  everything  was  debated  at  the 
top  of  the  voice,  one  might  make  an  ample  harvest 
there  of  epigrams,  jests,  and  anecdotes  ;  for  the 
unique    spectacle,    the   incredible   luxury,    and    the 

1  Thiebault. 
76 


The  Young  Man  from  the  Country 

general  excitement  could  not  save  this  Holy  Week 
carnival,  this  saturnalia  of  the  Passion,  from  the 
popular  laugh."  r 

For  excursions  there  was  Versailles,  Marly-le- 
Roi,  Saint-Cloud,  and  many  another  park  or 
garden.  But  the  promenades  were  for  summer,  or 
the  milder  days  of  winter,  and  then  only  for  the 
daytime.  In  winter,  as  well  as  summer,  the  world 
danced  ;  and  it  danced,  as  it  lived,  very  largely 
in  public,  for  in  these  happy  days  the  lower 
classes  were  well  in  hand.  Those  that  served  you, 
whom  you  therefore  could  not  escape,  were  washed, 
shaven,  powdered,  and  upholstered  in  plush  and 
velvet,  silk  and  gold  lace  ;  trained  to  behave  like 
automata,  for  next  to  good  manners  no  manner 
at  all  is  best ;  thus  they  could  not  offend  you. 
Those  that  did  not  serve  you  went  in  fear  of  the 
police  and  the  troops  ;  it  was  therefore  possible  to 
disport  oneself  as  though  Paris  were  one's  private 
garden  ;  a  little  thickness  of  skin,  or  an  armour 
of  pride,  proof  against  ridicule,  and  you  were  safe 
from  any  serious  annoyance. 

Dancers  had  the  choice  of  public  balls  :  one 
in  the  Place  du  Carrousel  ;  Ranelagh,  for  the 
spring  and  summer ;  Vauxhall,  for  the  winter ; 
and  later,  in  the  early  days  of  the  Revolution  the 
"  Foreigners'   Club,"   in  the  Rue  du   Mail. 

Ranelagh  was  a  brilliant  sight ;    the  lawn,  sur- 

1  Thiebault. 

77 


Pierre  Garat 

rounded  by  chairs,  shops,  and  lottery-offices,  was 
in  the  evening  the  favourite  show-place  of  fashion- 
able Paris.  Here,  on  summer  nights,  you  might 
see  the  Queen  herself,  with  the  ladies  of  her  Court, 
prominent  among  them  the  beautiful  Duchesse  de 
Guise.  From  nine  to  twelve  the  Rotunda  was  open 
for  dancing  ;  and  when  all  was  over  the  dancers 
drove  slowly  back,  in  the  delicious  summer  night, 
beneath  the  silent  trees  of  the  Bois  de  Boulogne, 
entering  Paris  by  the   Porte-Maillot. 

Vauxhall  was  a  little  more  popular.  Here, 
besides  a  few  of  the  great  world,  were  many  of 
the  half -world  ;  it  was  a  place  for  mistresses  rather 
than  wives.  The  Foreigners'  Club  was  more  select ; 
subscribers  were  subject  to  inquiry  ;  it  was  open 
every  day  to  men  and  twice  a  week  to  women, 
once  for  music,  once  for  dancing.  After  the  flight 
of  the  King  it  was  closed,  as  being  too  aristocratic. 
Lastly,  there  was  the  Bal  des  Avocats,  in  the  Rue 
Mauvais-Gargons . 

With  all  these  distractions  for  the  idle,  and  all 
these  idlers  to  distract,  the  study  of  the  law  had 
a  formidable  rival.  We  may  suppose  that  the  boy, 
being  human,  gave  himself  a  few  weeks'  grace  ; 
there  was  his  uncle  to  see,  letters  to  present, 
acquaintances  of  the  Bordeaux  theatre  to  look  up  ; 
and  then  he  must  take  a  week  or  two  to  learn 
the  ropes,  to  find  his  way  about  Paris.  ...  In 
the    meantime,    wherever    he    went    he    sang,    and 

78 


The  Young  Man  from  the  Country 

already  was  a  marked  man.      He  was  not  as  yet 
the  severe  and  impeccable  artist ;    full  of  meridian 
spirits   and   a  boy's   mischievous   humour,   he   was 
given  to  vocal  caricature,  to  mimicry,  to  the  imita- 
tion   of    instruments,    to    all    manner    of    musical 
monkey-tricks,  which,  given  the  taste  of  Paris,  by 
no  means  lessened  the  interest  in  his  talents.     Had 
you  been  to  the  opera  that  night?     Wait  until  the 
fruit  is  on  the  table  ;    some  charming  lady,  of  the 
one   world   or   the   other,    will    pray    M.   Garat   to 
give  a  taste  of  his  quality.     Nothing  loth,  he  will 
sing ;    give    you    bass,    tenor,    soprano,    contralto, 
violin  solo,  anything  you  will.     But  wait  until  the 
critics  get  to  work  :    you  will  have  an  example  of 
the    most    admirable    criticism    of    all— a    delicate 
caricature  of  some  singer's  every  fault,  so  delicate 
that  you  would  swear,  were  you  in  the  next  room, 
that    this    was    So-and-so,    whose    tremolo   was    so 
odiously  affected  ;    or  poor  So-and-so,  whose  com- 
pass was  so  fine,  but  whose  ear  was  so  uncertain  ; 
or  Chose,   whose  execution   would  be   quite  toler- 
able if  it  were  not   that,   once  a  week  or  so,   his 
voice  gives  out  on  the  upper  A  and  resembles  a 
cracked  whistle.     Get  him  to  the  piano,  he  will  sing 
whole  operas  :    Rameau,  Gretry,   Philidor,   Piccini, 
Sacchini,  and  Gluck— above  all,   Gluck.      Are  you 
tired  of  opera  ?     Then  ask  for  something  simpler  : 
he  has  a  whole  repertoire  of  Basque  songs,  which 
he  will   sing   you   in   French   if  you   prefer ;     and 
all  is  sung  so  perfectly,  ballad  or  opera  or  mimicry, 

79 


Pierre  Garat 

that  you  are  speechless  half  the  time  with  laughter, 
half  the  time  because  of  that  lump  in  the  throat. 
.  .  .  Not  bad-looking,  this  prodigy  of  a  law- 
student  ;  well-made,  well-poised,  graceful,  with  a 
fine,  nervous  hand  and  a  pretty  foot  and  ankle  ; 
wearing  his  clothes  to  perfection  ;  with  a  brown, 
impertinent,  exasperating  face ;  eyes  sleepy,  the 
nose  tilted,  the  chin  a  little  receding,  the  faulty 
mouth  with  curiously  lifted  corners,  not  closing 
very  well  on  the  teeth  :  one  of  those  mouths  that 
often  goes  with  a  perfect  articulation,  a  peculiar 
lightness  and  grace  of  speech.  Deep  in  the  chest, 
as  a  singer  should  be,  with  an  easy  carriage  ;  full 
of  reserve  strength,  with  the  sound  heart,  the 
steady  nerves,  the  elastic,  well-knit  vascular  organ- 
ism that  belong  to  the  great  singer  and  emit 
that  influence  which  we  call  magnetism.  He  has 
sung  at  Bordeaux  with  Azevedo,  Mile,  de  Saint- 
Huberty,  and  Punto  ;  you  have  heard  them  speak 
of  him  with  wonder  ;  now  they  can  produce  him  to 
justify  their  praises.  Gluck  has  left  Paris,  but 
the  other  great  composers  must  all  hear  him. 
"  Where  has  he  studied?  "  is  the  natural  question. 
Nowhere,  save  for  a  few  lessons  in  Bordeaux  ;  and 
he  is  sorry— he  does  not  read  music  at  sight. 
General  amazement— to  sing  as  no  one  in  Paris 
can  sing,  and  to  know  not  a  note  of  music  !  Wide 
of  the  truth ;  but  Garat,  slyly  watching  these 
eminent  faces,  half-proud  and  half-amused,  says 
nothing  to  lessen  the  marvel.     Legros,  the  opera  - 

80 


THE   PRINCESSE    DE    LAMBALLE. 

From  an  engraving. 


The  Young  Man  from  the  Country 

singer,  is  inclined  to  patronize.  "  What  a  pity," 
he  drawls,  "  that  he  sings  without  understanding 
music  !  "  Sacchini  turns  upon  him.  "  Without 
understanding  music  !  But  I  tell  you  Garat  is 
music,  itself !  "  Gretry  tells  him  not  to  worry 
further  about  rules.  "  If  he  knew  the  danger  of 
infringing  some  rule  of  art  we  should  lose  what 
we  find  so  rarely,  the  outpouring  of  a  happy 
instinct,  to  gain  what  we  hear  everywhere,  the 
accents  of  convention." 

It  is  not  long  before  his  fame  reaches  Court. 
The  Queen  longs  to  meet  this  prodigy  ;  will  the 
Princesse  de  Lamballe  hear  him  and  report? 

There  was  in  those  days  a  gay  young  canon  in 
Paris,  who  hoped  one  day  to  be  bishop.  Bachau- 
mont  tells  us  the  story.  "  Wit,  philosopher, 
gallant,  courtier,"  he  was  delighted  to  oblige  the 
Princess.  "  Under  the  pretext  of  enabling  her  to 
hear  M.  Garat,  that  astonishing  phenomenon  even 
to  the  most  able  Musicians,  he  obtained  permis- 
sion to  hold  a  reception.  .  .  .  Too  narrowly 
lodged  in  his  canonical  quarters  to  receive  Her 
Most  Serene  Highness,  he  demanded  of  his  father, 
the  Baron  d'Espagnac,  the  use  of  the  Invalides, 
whither  were  invited  many  Duchesses,  Ladies  of 
the  Court,  and  gentlemen." 

The  reception,  which  was  held  on  the  last  day 
of  1782,  was  eminently  successful,  although  the 
fact  that  the  guests  were  received  by  Mine. 
Gilibert,  the  Abbe's  cousin,  who  was  the  daughter 

81  F 


Pierre  Garat 

of  an  inspector  of  police,  the  wife  of  another,  and 
sister  of  a  third,  seems  to  have  been  regarded 
as  somewhat  tactless. 

The  Princesse  de  Lamballe  gave  such  a  report 
to  the  Queen  that  the  latter,  a  few  days  later,  sent 
Garat  an  invitation  by  M.  de  Vaudreuil,  Director 
of  the  Queen's  Household,  requesting  him  to  sing 
at  Versailles,  and  asking  him  to  choose  his  day 
and  his  hour.  Eerhaps  she  feared  to  interrupt 
his   study  of  the   law  ! 

The  day  chosen  was  the  12th  of  January,  1783. 
Where  Garat  lived  at  this  period— whether  with 
his  uncle  or  alone — we  do  not  know  :  wherever 
it  was,  his  neighbours  must  have  been  somewhat 
surprised  when  one  of  the  royal  carriages,  drawn 
by  six  horses,  stopped  at  the  law-student's  door. 


82 


CHAPTER     IV 
AT   COURT— EARLY  ADVENTURES 

To  Versailles — He  sings  before  the  Queen — All  doors  open  to 
him — De  Vaudreuil ;  La  Borde  and  la  Borde,  the  financiers  ; 
Grimod — Mine.  Vigee  Le  Brun ;  the  evenings  at  the  Palais- 
Royal  ;  her  supper-parties — Talma ;  Azevedo — Saint-Georges — 
Garat  forsakes  the  law — The  Roman  father — Garat  without 
resources — The  Queen  to  the  rescue — -Garat  given  a  sinecure 
at  Court — The  Italian  singers — Garat's  admiration  for  Gluck 
— The  musical  arbiter  of  Paris. 

We  may  judge  that  the  drive  to  Versailles  was 
nervous  work.  Garat  had  courage  and  assurance, 
impertinence  if  you  will ;  he  was  not  without  social 
ease,  for  the  art  of  song  is  essentially  a  social 
art.  He  had  not,  however,  yet  found  himself, 
either  socially  or  as  a  dandy ;  he  was  still  the 
clever  provincial  ;  the  polished  assurance  of  later 
years  was  a  slow  psychological  growth. 

As  often  happens  in  the  case  of  Garat,  we  may 
choose  between  two  accounts  of  the  fateful  inter- 
view. One  is  that  of  our  tattler  Bachaumont,  who 
wrote  at  the  time  and  is  supported  by  other  sources  ; 
the  other  that  of  Jal,  who  wrote  years  later. 

Bachaumont       writes       under       the       date     of 

83 


Pierre  Garat 

January  13th.  Paris  had  spent  a  dull  week; 
beyond  the  processional  entry  of  the  Papal  Nuncio, 
bearing  the  holy  swaddling-bands  which  the  Pope 
had  blessed  and  sent,  as  custom  was,  for  the  wear- 
ing of  the  Dauphin  (who  then,  by  the  way,  was 
about  to  be  weaned),  the  city  had  little  to  talk 
of  or  to  anticipate.  All  the  better,  no  doubt,  for 
Garat ;  but  the  length  of  the  record  and  the 
wording  show  that  he  was  already  a  personage. 

We  left  him  in  his  coach,  speeding  out  of  Paris 
behind  six  fast  horses.  It  was  only  ten  miles  to 
Versailles  ;  but  at  Sevres,  a  little  more  than  half- 
way, the  horses  were  changed,  and  Garat  no  doubt 
stepped  out  to  stretch  his  limbs  and  impress  the 
loitering  spectators.  At  Versailles  he  was  driven 
to  the  house  of  the  Duchesse  de  Polignac,  then 
Grand  Mistress  of  the  Palace.  In  the  ante-chamber 
less  fortunate  musicians  were  assembled  :  a  com- 
plete orchestra,  to  be  summoned  if  required  ;  which 
apparently  they  were  not.  Garat  was  taken  directly 
to  the  salon. 

It  was  a  goodly  audience  that  awaited  him : 
the  Queen,  the  Comte  de  Provence,  the  Comte 
d'Artois,  "  and  a  host  of  lords  and  ladies,"  curious 
to  see  and  to  hear  the  latest  sensation  of  Paris. 
"  He  had  not  foreseen  this  spectacle  :  the  pomp 
and  majesty  thereof  impressed  him  to  the  point 
of  striking  him  speechless  and  depriving  him  of 
his  faculties."  Alarming  ordeal  for  a  little  law- 
student,    who   came   to   gaze   and   admire,   only   to 

84 


MARIE   ANTOINETTE. 

From  the  painting  by  Mine.  Vigce  Lc  Iliun. 


At  Court — Early  Adventures 

find  himself  the  victim  !  "  The  Queen  and  M . 
le  Comte  d'Artois,  who  perceived  his  embarrass- 
ment, reassured  him  by  a  welcome  full  of  kind- 
ness. They  encouraged  him;  he  recovered  his 
ease."  The  Queen,  with  the  graciousness  that  she 
could  assume,  if  she  did  not  always  do  so,  re- 
marked that  she  had  heard  of  his  skill  as  a 
musician  and  had  desired  to  meet  him.  Garat, 
still  somewhat  intimidated,  replied  that  he  feared 
her  Majesty  had  been  deceived  :  he  was  only  a 
student,  who  sang  for  pleasure,  but  of  music  he 
knew  nothing  ;  he  barely  knew  how  to  sing  :  he 
knew  only  a  few  songs  in  the  Southern  dialect, 
a  few  Basque  ballads,  learned  as  a  child  in 
Bordeaux  or  among  the  Euskarian  hills.  How 
far  was  this  humility  genuine  ?  Garat  liked,  on 
occasion,  to  produce  a  dramatic  surprise ;  from 
a  freakish  sense  of  humour  as  much  as  anything ; 
moreover,  the  manners  of  the  day  were  more  than 
a  little  servile.  However  that  may  be,  the  Queen 
was  still  encouraging  :  let  M.  Garat  sing  his  songs. 
Salieri,  the  Queen's  accompanist,  was  waiting  at 
the  clavecin.  Garat,  thus  encouraged,  sang  one  of 
his  favourite  Basque  or  Gascon  ballads,  afterwards 
translating  it  into  French ;  he  recovered  con- 
fidence ;  he  sang  others  ;  his  success  was,  as 
usual,  astonishing.  If  he  had  feared  that  the  Court, 
with  its  superfine  amateurs,  would  be  less  enchanted 
with  his  art  than  was  Paris  he  was  fully  reassured. 
"  But  do  you  not  know  any  operatic  music?  "  asked 

85 


Pierre  Garat 

the  Queen.  "  I  have  learned  no  operatic  music, 
madame,  for  my  father  has  not  allowed  me  to 
waste  my  time  over  anything  but  the  study  of  the 
law."  Versailles  was  not  so  far  from  Paris  but 
that  his  hearers  knew  precisely  what  this  was  worth. 
A  general  laugh  was  the  result.  "  But  yesterday, 
madame,  I  went  to  the  opera  :  it  was  Armida  that 
I  heard  there;  perhaps  I  remember  something." 
Salieri,  at  the  Queen's  request,  took  the  score  and 
again  accompanied.  It  was  a  revelation.  Garat 
sang  firstly  some  of  the  gems  of  the  opera  ;  he 
proceeded  to  counterfeit  the  voices  of  the  leading 
singers  ;  eventually  he  sang,  from  memory,  prac- 
tically the  whole  opera.  The  Queen  led  the 
applause  :  it  was  a  scene  of  sincere  enthusiasm ; 
he  had  exceeded  all  expectations,  and  had  also 
been  devilishly  amusing.  Artois,  perhaps  misled 
by  his  musical  gymnastics  into  undervaluing  his 
natural  voice,  intended  to  be  complimentary.  "  He 
sang  extremely  well  already,  and  when  he  had 
studied  music.  .  .  ."  This  was  too  much  for 
Salieri,  who  leapt  from  his  seat  :  "  He  study  music, 
sire  !  But  he  is  music  itself  !  "  Artois  was  not  to 
be  flurried.  "  None  the  less,  I  recommend  him 
to  study  !  " 

It  was  after  some  excruciating  piece  of  mimicry, 
while  laughter  was  yet  twitching  at  his  lips,  that 
the  sense  of  the  place  and  occasion  came  upon 
him  suddenly.  Here  was  he,  student  of  law,  son 
of     the     worthy     advocate,     the     Roman     father, 

86 


At  Court — Early  Adventures 

Dominique  Garat,  of  the  Parliament  of  Bor- 
deaux, surrounded  by  the  great  ones  of  the  earth 
and  .  .  ,  playing  the  exquisite  buffoon.  "  My 
God  !  "  he  cried,  with  boyish  frankness  and  enjoy- 
ment, "  what  would  my  father  say  if  he  could  see 
me  now !  "  We  are  told  that  the  Marechal  de 
Duras  replied  :  "  Monsieur,  we  shall  see  that  he 
shall  have  no  cause  to  regret  it  "  ;  which  might 
mean  anything. 

Before  leaving  he  accompanied  the  Queen,  sing- 
ing with  her,  and  also  with  Artois.  In  after 
days,  in  his  wilder  moments,  even  Marie  Antoinette 
was  not  sacred  to  his  genius  for  mimicry ;  he 
would  reproduce  not  only  her  voice,  but  her  fault 
of  occasionally  singing  flat. 

He  went  home  to  Paris  famous  where  before  he 
had  been  remarked.  It  was,  as  we  shall  see,  a 
landmark  in  his  life. 

According  to  Jal,  Dominique  Garat  accompanied 
his  son  to  Versailles,  and  afterwards,  perturbed 
at  his  success  and  its  possible  effects,  exacted  a 
promise  that  he  would  keep  his  head  and  assidu- 
ously study  the  law.  But  Jal  wrote  forty  years 
after  the  event.  He  is  contradicted  by  Grimm,  who 
wrote  at  the  time,  and  by  other  sources.  More- 
over, the  exclamation,  "  What  would  my  father 
say?"  bears  upon  it  the  stamp  of  truth  to  life. 
It  is  hardly  likely,  again,  had  Dominique  been 
in  Paris  all  these  months,  that  his  son  could  have 
been  publicly  the  lover  of  Mme.  Dugazon.   Possible 

$7 


Pierre  Garat 

it  is  that  Dominique-Joseph  accompanied  the  boy  ; 
the  similarity  of  name  would  account  for  the  con- 
fusion ;  certainly  we  have  no  reason  to  believe 
that  the  father  was  then  in  Paris. 

Socially,  Garat  was  now  fairly  launched.  In 
respect  of  musical  society  all  doors  were  already 
open  to  him.  If  some  houses  of  the  noblesse  had 
been  inaccessible  before,  we  may  be  sure  that  they 
now  unclosed,  for  within  a  few  days  all  Paris  had 
learned  of  his  success. 

First  of  the  houses  he  frequented  we  should 
mention  that  of  de  Vaudreuil,  Director  of  the 
Queen's  Household,  a  brilliant,  fascinating  person- 
age, reputed  the  lover  of  Mme.  Polignac,  the  bosom 
friend  of  Artois  ;  according  to  one  great  lady 
"  the  only  man  who  knew  how  to  speak  to  a  woman 
of  the  world."  His  speciality  in  that  respect 
appears  to  have  been  an  exaggerated  reverence. 
Even  in  that  age  he  was  the  type,  the  model  of 
the  complete  courtier.  Perhaps  we  to-day  should 
find  his  manner  a  little  flowery  ;  his  manners,  at 
all  events,  were  then  considered  perfect.  His  chief 
fault  would  seem  to  have  been  a  desire  always 
to  be  in  the  limelight,  always  to  pull  the  strings, 
if  the  two  similes  may  be  employed  together  ;  he 
was  also  a  trifle  avaricious.  It  was  his  duty  on 
a  certain  occasion  to  go  to  M.  de  Calonne  in  respect 
of  the  settlement  of  the  latest  batch  of  debts  of 
the  Comte  d'Artois,  which  Louis  XVI  had  to  settle 


At  Court — Early  Adventures 

periodically.  "  That  matter  settled,"  said  the 
Comte,  "  let  us  now  deal  with  my  debts ;  for  I 
too  have  debts  which  you  must  pay."  "  And  where 
would  you  have  me  get  the  money?"  "That  is 
no  business  of  mine  ;  that  is  for  you  to  decide." 
His  debts  were  duly  paid,  "  for  the  first  duty  of 
the  Minister  of  Finance  was  to  liquidate  the 
prodigalities  of  the  royal  family  and  its  favourites." 

If  de  Vaudreuil  was  a  courtier  and  a  parasite, 
he  was  also  a  generous  patron.  It  is  true  that 
his  patronage  was  not  likely  to  embarrass  him 
financially,  since  money  fell  into  his  hands  for 
the  asking.  We  shall  presently  see  how  he  assisted 
Garat ;  but  for  his  zealous  interest,  indeed,  so 
fine  an  artist  might  have  made  an  indifferent  lawyer, 
or  would  perhaps  have  been  forced  to  adopt  the 
profession  of  actor. 

At  Gennevilliers,  de  Vaudreuil's  chateau,  the 
Comte  d'Artois  was  a  constant  guest ;  the  two 
were  inseparable.  Talleyrand  was  another  inti- 
mate ;  but  there  is  no  need  to  cite  further 
names,  for  all  the  Court  and  all  that  was  best 
in  fashionable  and  intellectual  Paris  was  to  be 
encountered  at  Gennevilliers. 

Two  houses  also  frequented  by  Garat  were  those 
of  two  financiers  ;  the  one  Benjamin  de  la  Borde, 
the  other  Jean-Joseph  de  La  Borde  ;  both  from 
the  same  part  of  France  as  Garat,  but,  in  spite 
of  the  similarity  of  name,  unrelated.  Benjamin, 
a   song-writer,    the   son   of   a   Bordeaux   magnate, 

89 


Pierre  Garat 

who  afterwards  became  farmer-general,  was  first 
a  valet  de  chambre  to  Louis  XV,  and  eventually 
himself  farmer-general.  His  house  was  the  resort 
of  all  the  musicians  of  Paris,  and  here  Garat  often 
sang  the  songs  of  his  host,  or  some  of  the  Basque 
or  Gascon  airs  which  they  both  loved. 

Jean-Joseph  de  La  Borde,  after  a  long  career 
as  financier,  had  become  banker  to  the  Court.  One 
of  his  daughters  afterwards  became  Duchesse  de 
Cars,  and  one  Comtesse  de  Noailles  ;  but  at  this 
time  they  did  the  honours  of  Mereville,  their 
father's  house.  Both  these  financiers  died  upon 
the  scaffold. 

The  financiers  of  Paris  then,  as  now,  made  a 
little  world  of  their  own ;  entertaining  largely, 
patronizing  actors  and  painters  and  musicians,  not 
disdained  by  the  nobility.  In  those  days  of  easy 
corruption  the  army  contractor,  the  moneylender 
and  banker,  the  farmer  of  taxes,  or  the  speculator 
in  grain  was  able  to  amass  enormous  sums  ;  they 
alone  grew  richer  while  the  Court,  and  indeed  all 
France,  was  finding  money  ever  more  scarce,  more 
difficult  to  obtain  without  labour.  In  later  years 
Garat  was  often  the  guest  of  Grimod  de  la  Reyniere, 
the  father  and  the  son  of  men  of  the  same  name. 
All  three  were  financiers  and  all  three  gourmands. 
The  first  of  the  line  "  died  with  his  napkin  round 
his  neck,  suffocated  by  a  pate  de  foie  gras,  in 
1754.  His  place  and  his  appetite  passed  to  his 
son,    who    enriched    himself   greatly    by   means    of 

90 


At  Court — Early  Adventures 

the  one,  and  won  fame  by  the  other,  keeping  open 
table  every  day  of  the  week."  l  His  cook,  Merillon, 
was  famous ;  his  collection  of  pictures  by  Le 
Moyne,  for  whose  work  he  had  a  peculiar  admira- 
tion, was  unique  ;  after  eating  the  best  dinner  in 
Paris  he  offered  his  guests  the  best  music.  In 
his  hotel  on  the  Champs  Elysees  he  had  built  a 
vast  concert -room,  and  here  Garat  sang  the  music 
of  Piccini's  operas  or  Sacchini's,  often  accompanied 
by  the  composers.  La  Reyniere  had  swept  up 
the  remnants  of  several  of  the  famous  salons  of 
the  previous  reign  ;  in  particular  those  of  Mmes. 
Du  Defiant  and  Geoff rin  and  the  Prince  de  Conti. 
Mme.  de  Tesse,  Mme.  de  Genlis,  Mme.  de  Segur, 
Mme.  de  Noailles,  the  Due  de  Laval,  Barthelemy, 
Bezenval  :    these  were  some  of  his  guests. 

But  at  the  time  we  are  speaking  of  one  of  the 
most  interesting  houses  which  Garat  frequented  was 
that  of  Mme.  Le  Brun,  and  it  is  also  that  of  which 
we  have  the  fullest  account. 

Mme.  Vigee  Le  Brun,  one  of  the  most  popular, 
and  certainly  one  of  the  most  excellent  portrait 
painters  of  the  time,  and  known  to  all  the  world 
by  her  delightful  portraits  of  herself  and  her 
daughter,  was  the  daughter  of  Louis  Vigee,  himself 
a  worker  in  pastel  and  to  some  extent  a  painter. 
Her  mother,  left  a  widow,  remarried  ;  Mme.  Le 
Brun's  stepfather  was  a  wealthy  jeweller,  who  took 

1  Ch.  Mouselet,  Les  originaux  du  sikle  dernier. 
91 


Pierre  Garat 

every  penny  of  her  very  considerable  earnings.  At 
the  age  of  twenty  she  herself,  despite  earnest 
warnings,  married  Le  Brun,  also  a  painter,  and  a 
dissolute  gambler,  and  again  all  her  earnings  were 
seized.  By  the  time  she  left  France,  in  1789, 
he  had  squandered  more  than  £40,000  of  her 
making. 

She  had  already  painted  a  prodigious  number  of 
princes,  courtiers,  and  aristocrats,  and  after  her 
marriage  the  young  girl  became  one  of  the  most 
popular,  if  one  of  the  most  informal,  hostesses  of 
Paris.  The  gossips  of  the  city,  aware  of  the  large 
sums  she  was  earning,  and  of  course  exaggerating 
them,  declared  that  her  curtains  were  of  cloth  of 
gold,  that  she  lit  her  fire  with  banknotes,  and 
burned  only  aloes  wood.  The  truth  was  that  she 
barely  had  pocket-money,  and  received  her  friends 
in  a  modest  room  that  was  her  bedchamber  at 
night.  "  Great  ladies,  great  lords,  notable  men 
in  literature  and  art,  all  came  to  this  room  :  .  .  . 
the  crowd  was  often  so  great  that  marshals  of 
France,  for  want  of  a  seat,  would  sit  on  the  ground, 
and  I  remember  the  Mar6chal  de  Noailles,  very 
stout  and  very  old,  had  one  evening  the  greatest 
trouble  to  get  up  again. 

"...  The  famous  composers  :  Gretry,  Sacchini, 
Martini,  often  played  portions  of  their  operas 
before  the  first  night.  Our  habitual  singers  were 
Garat,  Azevedo,  Richer,  Mme.  Todi,  my  sister-in- 
law.     .     .     .    Garat    above    all    may    be    cited    as 

92 


MME.    VIGEE    LE   BRUX   AND    DAUGHTER. 
From  the  painting  by  herself. 


A 


At  Court — Early  Adventures 

possessed  of  the  most  extraordinary  talent  ever 
known.  Not  only  did  no  difficulties  exist  for  this 
flexible  throat ;  but  in  the  matter  of  expression 
he  had  no  rival.  I  believe  no  one  ever  sang  Gluck 
as  well  as  he.  .  .  ."  Other  artists  were  Viotti, 
violinist ;  Jamovic,  Maestrino,  and  "  Prince  Henry 
of  Prussia,  an  excellent  amateur.  .  .  .  Salentin 
played  the  hautboy,  Hulmandel  and  Cramer  the 
piano.  .  .  .  Mme.  Montgeron  was  already  in  the 
first  rank  as  pianist  .  .  .  and  distinguished  as  a 
composer." 

In  the  garden  of  the  Palais -Royal,  when  the 
opera  was  over,  and  the  brilliant  crowd  loitered 
about  the  exit,  she  would  make  up  her 
supper-parties,  with  half  the  Court  and  all  the 
city  to  choose  from.  "  The  ease,  the  gentle 
gaiety  which  reigned  at  these  light  evening 
repasts  gave  them  a  charm  that  no  gathering 
will  ever  know  again.  A  sort  of  confidence  and 
intimacy  reigned  among  the  guests  ;  and  as  well- 
bred  people  can  always  banish  stiffness  without 
inconvenience,  it  was  at  such  suppers  that  the  good 
society  of  Paris  showed  itself  superior  to  that  of 
all  Europe." 

Sometimes  these  suppers  took  place  in  the  city  ; 
more  often  in  Mme.  Le  B run's  apartment.  The 
guests  assembled  about  nine.  Politics  was  for- 
bidden ;  the  talk  was  of  letters  or  the  incident  of 
the    day.      "  Sometimes    we    amazed    ourselves    by 

93 


Pierre  Garat 

charades  in  action,  and  sometimes  the  Abbe  Delille 
or  Le  Brun-Pindare  would  read  us  some  of  his 
verses.  At  ten  we  sat  at  table  ;  my  supper  was 
of  the  simplest."  At  other  times  her  circle  would 
meet  at  a  dance  ;  eight  persons  only  took  the  floor 
in  the  stately  figures  of  the  time.  At  other  times — 
and  no  doubt  she  met  Garat  then— M.  de  Riviere 
was  the  host  :  charge  d'affaires  of  the  Court  of 
Saxony.  Here  the  guests  acted  or  sang  in 
comedies  or  comic  opera.  "  All  the  actors  were 
excellent  except  Talma.  No  doubt  you  smile. 
The  fact  is  that  Talma,  who  played  the  lover  to 
us,  was  awkward  and  embarrassed,  and  no  one 
could  then  have  foreseen  that  he  would  have 
become  an  inimitable  actor.  My  surprise  was  great 
when  I  saw  our  jeune  premier  surpass  Larrive  and 
supplant  le  Kain." 

Talma,  at  this  time,  was  of  Garat's  age  :  to 
be  precise,  a  year  younger  ;  the  son  of  a  domestic 
servant  who  became  a  London  dentist,  he  came 
from  London  to  Paris  to  study  under  Mole,  Fleury, 
and  Dugazon  ;  we  may  be  sure,  then,  that  Garat 
knew  him  well.  Plis  public  debut  did  not  take 
place  until    1787. 

Garat's  most  constant  companion  at  this  date  was 
perhaps  his  fellow-townsman,  Azevedo.  He  was, 
by  origin,  a  Portuguese  Jew  ;  he  seems  to  have 
arrived  in  Paris  about  the  same  time  as  Garat  ; 
he  also  was  greatly  admired  and  patronized  by  the 
Court.        Although     a     fine     artist,     the     taint     of 

94 


At  Court — Early  Adventures 

the  Ghetto  hung  about  him ;  the  suppleness  of 
the  courtier  became,  on  occasion,  the  servility 
of  the  flunkey  or  the  insolence  of  the  parasite  ; 
according  to  Bachaumont — who,  as  he  printed  his 
Memolres  in  England,  was  not  always  careful  to 
be  accurate  or  considerate — he  accepted  a  blow  in 
public  and  apologized  rather  than  fight :  an  exhi- 
bition which  must  have  ruined  any  one  but 
an  actor. 

His  voice  was  a  fine  baritone  ;  his  success  so 
great  that  he  was  even  compared  to  Garat,  with 
whom  he  so  often  sang.  The  difference  between 
the  two  was  expressed  by  the  Abbe  Arnaud,  one 
of  the  warmest  partisans  of  Gluck  in  the  Gluck- 
Piccini  campaign.  "  One,"  said  the  Comte  de 
Guibert  to  Arnaud,  "  is  the  work  of  art ;  the  other, 
of  nature."  "  Wrong  !  "  cried  the  Abbe  ;  "  to  sing 
as  Garat  sings  long  study  was  essential,  and  art 
is  as  needful  as  nature."  But  de  Guibert  was 
right  in  this  sense — that  Azevedo  was  a  singer  by 
force  of  training,  while  Garat  was  a  singer  perfected 
by  study. 

Another  companion  of  Garat's  at  this  date  was 
the  Chevalier  Saint-Georges,  the  idol  of  half  the 
young  bloods  of  Paris.  His  father  was  M.  de 
Boulogne,  a  wealthy  Creole  of  Guadeloupe,  a 
farmer-general;  his  mother  was  a  negress.  He 
was,  for  a  mulatto,  undeniably  handsome ;  his 
physique  was   superb,   his   muscular   strength   pro- 

95 


Pierre  Garat 

digious  ;  he  excelled  in  every  physical  sport,  and 
as  a  fencer  was  supreme.  But  his  attainments 
were  not  merely  physical ;  he  was,  as  we  have 
seen,  a  remarkable  violinist,  whose  skill  drew 
crowds  in  the  garden  of  the  Palais-Royal,  when 
his  friends  could  persuade  him  to  play  there  by 
moonlight.  His  education  had  been,  for  those 
days,  unusually  complete ;  his  manners  were 
perfect ;  he  was,  in  short,  a  coffee -coloured 
Crichton. 

A  perfect  dancer,  he  rode  like  a  centaur  ;  he 
was  also  an  unrivalled  skater.  In  the  first  place 
master  of  horse  to  Mme.  de  Montesson,  he  was 
at  this  time  captain  of  the  guard  to  the  Due  de 
Chartres.  It  was  not  strange  that  this  huge, 
exquisite  half-breed  had  a  veritable  court  of 
admirers  :  not  only  of  the  opposite  sex.  The 
first  school  of  arms  in  Paris  was  that  of  the  famous 
La  Boissiere  ;  poet  and  swordsman,  he  had  taught 
many  of  the  best  swords  in  Paris,  including  the 
redoubtable  Saint-Georges.  His  school,  says 
Thiebault,  "  was  the  rendezvous  of  the  best  fencers 
.  .  .  forming  the  escort,  and,  so  to  speak,  the  court 
of  the  Chevalier  de  Saint-Georges,  a  true  king- 
at-arms,  and  the  first  man  in  the  world  in  all 
matters  of  agility,  strength,  and  skill.  You  can 
imagine  the  effect  he  produced  on  me,  who  yielded 
to  no  one  in  the  matter  of  admiration  and  enthu- 
siasm. .  .  .  The  strongest  fencers  in  the  world 
were  all  ambitious  to  fence  with  him,  not  to  dispute 

96 


At  Court — Early   Adventures 

his  advantage,  but  only  to  be  able  to  say,  '  I  have 
fenced,  or  I  fence,  with  Saint-Georges  !  ' 

"...  Saint -Georges  had  retained  a  very  great 
deference  for  his  former  master,  the  aged  La 
Boissiere.  As  soon  as  he  had  assumed  his  fencing 
costume  he  would  stand  before  him  to  receive  his 
lesson  :  a  courtesy  lesson,  which  only  lasted  a 
minute  or  two,  but  which  was  very  curious  to 
witness.  ...  I  still  seem  to  see  him  and  hear 
him  call  out,  in  his  brusque  tone  and  his  great 
voice  :  '  That  won't  do,  my  children.  .  .  .  Begin 
that  again,  children  !  ...  At  the  right  moment 
.  .  .  that's  better  .  .  .  that's  good.  Children, 
that's  good  !  '  And  you  will  understand  how  this 
man  fascinated  us,  electrified  us."  ' 

1  An  anecdote  related  by  Thiebault  is  perhaps  worth  repeating 
for  those  who  have  not  read  his  Memoires :  Saint-Georges  was  one 
day  watching  a  game  of  tennis.  Among  the  players  was  a  young 
noble,  in  the  household  of  the  King,  a  new-comer  to  Paris.  Turning 
suddenly,  he  beheld,  against  the  net,  the  face  of  the  great  mulatto. 
In  a  fit  of  youthful  impertinence  or  insanity  he  threw  the  ball  at 
the  Chevalier's  nose.  A  challenge  from  Saint-Georges  appeared  to 
amuse  him  immensely.  He  was  somewhat  sobered  when  his  friends 
informed  him  that  he  was  already  as  good  as  dead;  and  they 
proceeded  to  enlighten  him  as  to  whom  Saint-Georges  was. 

At  the  meeting  he  said  to  Saint-Georges  :  "  Sir,  I  cannot  defend 
my  life  against  you  ;  but  I  can  play  you  for  it.  Here  are  two 
pistols ;  only  one  is  loaded ;  we  will  select  them  at  hazard  and  fire 
point-blank  at  the  same  moment.  The  lucky  man  will  blow  out 
the  other's  brains;  but  chance  will  decide."  After  this  Saint- 
Georges  was  willing  to  listen  to  his  seconds,  and  the  younger  man 
apologized.  In  the  wars  of  the  Revolution  Saint-Georges  was  a 
colonel  of  Chasseurs;  but  he  did  not  serve  long,  and  in  1801  he 
died  in  poverty. 

97  G 


Pierre  Garat 

A  few  years  earlier,  at  a  time  when  he  was  impli- 
cated, on  account  of  his  position  in  the  service  of 
the  house  of  Orleans,  in  political  discussions,  he  was 
attacked  by  night  by  six  men  armed  with  cudgels, 
and  received  a  terrible  beating.  Orleans  was  eager 
to  avenge  his  servant  ;  but  it  was  whispered  that 
the  outrage  was  not  political  ;  that  the  assailants 
were  members  of  the  police,  the  instruments  of  a 
jealous  woman.  After  this  his  admirers  were 
envious  of  the  privilege  of  escorting  him.  We 
may  picture  Garat  as  making  one  of  the  convoy  ; 
until,  not  jealousy,  but  his  growing  fame,  and  the 
desire  to  have  satellites  of  his  own,  urged  him  to 
avoid  assemblies  in  which  he  could  be  but  a 
secondary   light. 

Until  the  December  of  1782  Garat  gave  a  certain 
amount  of  time  to  the  study  of  the  law.  He  was 
not  a  diligent  student  ;  he  was  hardly  a  student 
at  all ;  but  there  was  no  definite  defection .  Paris 
was  too  delightful  to  neglect  ;  he  must  see  the 
city  first  ;  afterwards  he  could  settle  down.  So 
perhaps  he  reasoned,  if  he  reasoned  at  all. 

But  after  the  presentation  at  Court  he  deserted 
the  law  entirely.  What,  precisely,  he  expected  his 
future  to  be  we  do  not  know.  Life  was  good  ; 
his  father  was  wealthy.  Perhaps  he  did  not 
consider   the  matter  at  all. 

He  soon  had  cause  to  do  so.  Dominique  Garat 
heard  of  his  son's  success  and  his  defection.     The 

9S 


At  Court — Early  Adventures 

boy  must  be  pulled  up,  must  be  saved.  His  head 
was  turned.  To  play  the  buffoon  before  Court  and 
Queen  was  bad  enough  ;  to  desert  an  honourable 
calling  was  worse.     He  cut  off  his  son's  allowance. 

Already  the  boy  was  in  debt.  He  was  bound 
to  wear  clothes  ;  once  equipped,  once  Paris  was 
thoroughly  explored,  he  might  draw  in  his  horns. 

Return  to  the  law  he  would  not.  Music  was  his 
passion,  his  profession.  How  he  expected  to  live 
by  it  we  do  not  know.  He  would  not  consider  the 
stage,  although  many  urged  him  to  sing  in  opera. 
Presumably  his  father  knew  he  would  not  con- 
sider it,  or  his  action  would  have  seemed  calcu- 
lated to  force  him  to  tread  the  boards. 

Apart  from  any  repugnance  to  the  law — and  it 
is  probable  that  he  loathed  it — he  was  already  an 
admired  and  considered  person  :  even  a  person 
of  some  influence.  He  could  not  become  a  mere 
schoolboy,  a  clerk,  an  apprentice,  a  nobody. 

Did  he  carry  his  troubles  to  the  Queen  ?  It  is 
possible  ;  certain  it  is  that  she  very  promptly  knew 
of  them.  In  the  meantime  did  his  uncle  help 
him,  or  Azevedo,  or  Saint-Georges,  or  de  Vaudreuil, 
or  even  Dugazon?     We  do  not  know. 

It  was  de  Vaudreuil  who  came  to  the  rescue  :  de 
Vaudreuil  or  the  Queen,  or  both.  Garat  was  an 
institution  at  Court ;  he  must  obviously  be  allowed 
to  live.  To  make  him  a  lawyer  was  absurd; 
besides,  the  boy  had  debts.     To  give  him  money 

99 


Pierre  Garat 

was  necessary.  The  only  matter  that  called  for 
thought  was  the  pretext  for  giving.  Money  was 
always  to  be  had  at  Court  for  those  who  needed 
it.     What  was  the  Treasury  for? 

The  way  was  found.  De  Vaudreuil,  the  insepar- 
able friend  of  the  Comte  d'Artois,  had  him 
appointed  secretary  to  the  cabinet  in  that  prince's 
household. 

Bachaumont  has  an  entry  under  the  date 
September    19,    1783: — 

M.  Garat,  of  whom  mention  has  several  times 
been  made  on  account  of  his  singular  talent,  which 
during  the  last  year  has  sparkled  in  this  capital, 
has  just  been  attached  to  the  Court  by  a  position 
as  honorary  secretary  to  the  cabinet  of  the  Comte 
d'Artois,  which  position  his  Royal  Highness 
granted  at  the  request  of  M.  le  Comte  de 
Vaudreuil." 

Bachaumont's  next  entry  speaks  of  the  Italian 
singers.  In  this  connection  it  may  be  mentioned 
that  shortly  after  Garat's  arrival  in  Paris  he  was 
introduced  to  the  leading  singers  of  the  Italian 
theatres  and  the  Italian  school.  He  had  never 
before  heard  the  Italian  method  of  vocalization  in 
its  full  perfection.  The  result  was  the  immediate 
perfection  of  his  own  methods  ;  it  was  the 
completion  of  his  education  as  a  singer. 

But  if  he  learned  much  from  the  Italian  school 
of  song,  he  did  not  admit  the  supremacy  of  Italian 

100 


At  Court — Early  Adventures 

music.  It  was  always  a  regret  with  him  that  he 
had  arrived  in  Paris  too  late  to  know  Gluck. 
Gluck's  music  and  Gluck's  principles  were  to  him 
impeccable  ;  and  he  became  the  supreme  inter- 
preter of  the  old  Viennese  master,  though  he  never 
sang  a  note  of  his  music  upon  the  stage. 

It  is  a  proof  of  the  real  soundness  of  Garat's 
taste  that  he  so  promptly  recognized  the  old 
master's  genius.  He  never  treated  Gluck's  music 
to  the  flourishes  with  which  he  embroidered  the 
melodies  of  other  composers  ;  as  much,  perhaps, 
to  add  interest  to  their  poverty  of  invention  as  to 
display  the  marvellous  virtuosity  of  his  execution. 
His  flourishes,  however  elaborate,  were  always 
justly  placed  ;  they  were  as  natural  as  the  trill  of 
a  nightingale  or  the  lilt  of  a  robin  ;  they  expressed 
emotion  rather  than  concealed  it. 

His  taste  won  recognition  early.  Two  months 
before  the  Court  came  to  the  rescue  he  was  present 
at  the  first  performance  of  a  grand  opera  entitled 
Bayard.  The  public  seemed  inclined  to  a  favour- 
able verdict  ;  but  Garat  disliked  it  and  advised 
its  rejection.      The  fate  of  Bayard  was   sealed. 


IOI 


CHAPTER    V 
THE   EDUCATION   OF  A   DANDY 

The  education  of  a  dandy — The  psychology  of  dandyism — He 
becomes  a  leader  of  fashion — A  day  in  Garat's  life :  the  Palais- 
Royal  ;  the  toilet ;  a  morning  in  Paris ;  at  the  opera ;  the 
Trianon — Expenses  of  life  in  Paris — Debt — A  new  sinecure — 
Garat  seeks  his  father's  forgiveness— The  Roman  parent's 
reply — The  psychology  of  vicarious  asceticism — Two  kinds  of 
parasites. 

Of  course,  he  was  getting  spoiled.  Women  will 
play  with  a  boy  who  would  fear  a  man.  He  has 
no  less  fire  in  him,  but  he  has  less  audacity,  more 
reverence,  more  fear,  if  it  be  merely  of  taking  a 
false  step.  A  woman  might  trust  herself  on  a 
desert  island  with  a  boy  ;  not  so  with  a  man  who 
knew  her  weakness  and  could  read  the  tides  of 
her  being.  And  for  such  as  had  no  fear  of  con- 
sequences a  boy  was  the  easier  prey.  So  it  was 
that  Garat  was  made  much  of,  as  a  pretty  boy 
whom  one  could  pet  without  too  greatly  arousing 
a  censorious  world  ;  tasting  all  the  delights  of 
flirtation  without  the  dangers.  But  the  half -world 
was  more  enterprising,  and  the  singer  was,  after 
all,  a  man  ;  he  must  quickly  have  grown  a 
dangerous   pet . 

102 


The   Education  of  a   Dandy 

A  little  spoiled,  then,  a  little  dazzled,  he  began 
by  marvelling  at  this  bright  and  leisured  world 
and  then  by  imitating  it.  Birds  of  a  feather  flock 
together,  and  who  would  join  the  flock  must  acquire 
the  plumage. 

Emerson  says  somewhere  that  "  the  sense  of 
being  perfectly  well  dressed  gives  a  feeling  of 
inward  satisfaction  that  religion  is  powerless  to 
bestow."  As  to  the  psychology  of  the  fact  he  is 
silent  ;  but  the  statement  contains  the  secret  of 
dandyism. 

Exquisitely  aware  of  self,  loving  himself  as  a 
young  girl  loves  her  beauty,  his  clothes  must  have 
meant  much  to  him.  As  the  mind  of  a  lover 
becomes  the  soul  of  the  beautiful  body  which  he 
loves,  so  Garat's  mind  became  the  spirit  of  his 
clothes.  Clothes  reflect  the  manners  of  the  time, 
but  they  also  react  upon  them.  At  the  approach 
of  the  Revolution  the  fashions  of  the  ancien  regime. 
were  swept  away  like  autumn  leaves  and  the  grand 
manner  died. 

Much  of  the  Parisian  day  was  spent  in  seeing 
and  in  being  seen.  Our  budding  exquisite  becomes 
aware  that  eyes  are  upon  him.  "  It's  Garat  !  That 
is  Garat  !  " — the  whisper  follows  him  abroad.  He 
is  Garat,  the  unique,  the  marvellously  gifted  artist, 
the  darling  of  the  Court. 

His  education  as  an  exquisite  commences.  As 
in  Bordeaux  he  drilled  his  voice,  note  by  note,  until 
the   entire   register   was   perfect,    so   now   he   drills 

103 


Pierre  Garat 

his  bearing,  his  gesture,  his  accent,  his  bow.  His 
rusticity  is  sloughing  off.  There  were  dandies  in 
Bordeaux.  The  Bordeaux  magnate  was  luxurious 
as  to  material ;  his  silks  and  satins  were  of  the 
best,  his  linen  of  the  finest,  but  his  comfort  was 
dear  to  him.  Our  eyes  might  fail  to  differentiate 
between  him  and  the  complete  Parisian  ;  but  a 
provincial  upon  coming  to  Paris  would  soon  become 
aware  of  his  defects. 

The  fashions  of  twenty  years  ago  are  to-day 
well-nigh  incomprehensible  ;  we  could  hardly  tell 
shop-girl  from  duchess  were  each  arrayed  in  her 
best.  They  are  hideous  to  our  eyes,  and  unmean- 
ing. But  when  they  were  current  they  were  not 
merely  tolerable ;  they  were  an  open  book,  in 
which  we  could  read  the  wearer's  social  position 
and  character  and  wealth.  Now  we  have  forgotten 
the  language.  The  fashions  of  a  decade  ago  are 
as  absurd  as  another  nation's  conventions  ;  but 
the  man  who  has  lived  with  those  conventions 
forgets  their  absurdity ;  to  him  they  are  the 
stuff  of  morality.  So  the  fashion  we  are  used 
to  is  the  alphabet  of  beauty. 

Garat   was   learning  this   new  language.       That 

subtle    thing    called    style    would    dawn    upon    him 

more     and    more    completely,    becoming    at    last 

the     language     of     something     well-nigh     sacred. 

He     would     become    aware     of     his     rusticity     as 

a    man    convicted    of    sin  ;    the    tailor    must    heal 

him. 

104 


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U, 

'Si 

u. 

The  Education  of  a   Dandy 

Garat,  being  an  artist,  had  much  of  the  woman 
in  his  nature  :  the  love  of  his  own  beauty  and 
vitality ;  the  love  of  the  sunshine  of  approval ; 
the  fastidious  shrinking  from  criticism  and  hostility. 
He  was  also  acutely  sensitive  to  all  the  subtle 
effects   of  clothes. 

Moreover,  even  a  Frenchman  may  be  something 
of  a  snob.  The  Court,  the  great  nobles,  the 
society  of  Paris  :  these  in  Bordeaux  were  mere 
legends.  Even  to  his  lucid  Gallic  mind  the  idea 
of  a  great  and  powerful  prince  must  have  been 
impressive.  And  of  a  sudden  he  was  petted  by 
the  great  ones  of  the  earth  :  according  to  the  old 
ideology,  the  greatest  of  the  earth.  It  must  have 
been  a  trifle  overwhelming  at  the  outset.  But  as 
the  education  of  the  dandy  proceeded,  as  the 
curious  spiritual  pride  which  comes  of  a  carefully 
wrought  and  considered  physical  envelope  was 
evolved  and  intensified,  as  he  found  himself  a 
marked  and  envied  man,  he  would  feel  that  he, 
too,  was  somebody.  The  very  fact  that  he  had 
no  historic  name,  no  legendary  apparatus  to 
impress  his  fellows,  would  cause  him  to  empha- 
size his  individual  self.  He  was  not  a  Rohan  or 
a  Conde  ;    let  him  then  at  least  be  Garat. 

So  came  arrogance  ;  so,  in  part  as  a  defence, 
an  exquisite  impertinence.  I  have  seen  a  peacock 
erect  its  glories  and  commence  the  dance  of  court- 
ship when  regarded  by  a  bird  of  an  alien  species. 
Garat  was  eyed  very   understanding^   by  females 

105 


Pierre  Garat 

of  his  own  species.  He  peacocked,  therefore,  ever 
more  proudly.  The  love  of  admiration  has  a  sexual 
basis,  in  birds  and  in  men,  and  Garat  was  both 
a  man  and  a  peacock. 

The  love  of  a  brilliant  actress  ;  the  kindly  friend- 
ship of  great  ladies  ;  the  interest  of  powerful 
courtiers  and  of  princes  :  these  also  filled  him  with 
the  pride  of  life. 

And  presently,  as  he  became  known  as  the 
musical  arbiter  of  Paris,  who  could  make  or  damn 
an  opera,  the  envying  youth  of  Paris  began  to 
admit  his  supremacy.  The  French  mind  has  always 
possessed  a  great  capacity  for  creating  demigods  : 
witness  Robespierre  ;  witness  the  history,  the  resur- 
rections, of  the  Napoleonic  idea.  The  youth  of  Paris 
were  used  to  worshipping  the  successful  actor  while 
they  scorned  him.  Garat  they  could  not  presume 
to  scorn.  When  he  found  others  imitating  the 
folds  of  his  cravat,  the  set  of  his  hair,  the  very 
peculiarities  of  accent  or  carriage,  his  initiation  as 
a  dandy  was  complete.  A  solemn  responsibility, 
a  kind  of  consecration,  was  laid  upon  every  detail 
of  his  person  and  his  conduct. 

And  this  was  a  boy  of  twenty-one  !  Small 
wonder  if  he  was  a  little  spoiled  !  It  is  a  tribute 
to  his  character  that  we  can  accuse  him  of  no 
really  offensive  impertinence,  no  ill-natured  arro- 
gance.     No    one    slapped    his    face   or    challenged 

him.      Men   obviously   liked    and   admired   him,    if 

1 06 


The  Education  of  a  Dandy 

few  were  very  intimate  ;  Rode  and  Boieldieu  were 
evidently  strongly  attached  to  him  ;  his  uncle  even, 
with  all  an  uncle's  privileges  and  temptations, 
speaks  always  kindly  and  even  admiringly.  The 
truth  is  probably  that  a  keen  critical  faculty  and 
a  mordant  sense  of  humour  saved  him,  as  a  rule, 
from  serious  fatuity. 

What  was  a  day  in  his  life  in  this  his  twenty- 
first  year  ? 

Overnight  he  was  late  at  the  Palais-Royal,  where 
the  torches  that  flared  by  the  singers  cast  a  fitful 
glow  upward  on  the  leaves  of  the  plane-trees  ;  to 
those  who  loitered  below  the  sudden-flapping  leaves 
glowed  golden  or  faintly  green  upon  a  sky  of  the 
jettiest  black,  or  in  shadow  hovered  black  as  iron 
upon  a  depth  of  a  wonderful  deep  blue.  The 
light  fell  also  on  the  moonlit  facade  of  the  vast 
Palace,  touching  it  to  a  mellower  gloom  about  the 
lighted  windows  ;  moving  stealthily,  like  a  sudden 
flash  of  darkness,  on  the  unlit,  moonless  wings,  the 
shadow  of  singer  or  player  passed  huge  as  a  cloud  ; 
a  keen  eye  saw  it  faintly  overhead  (for  the  light 
lingered  imperceptibly  in  the  breath-laden  air)  as 
a  vast  Brocken  spectre.  Overhead  in  the  blue  a 
shield  of  silver,  and  one  dim  star,  and  the  shifting, 
diminishing  shafts  of  the  central  glow  ;  beneath, 
like  a  bed  of  dim  yellow  flowers,  the  sea  of  faces, 
the  eyes  here  and  there  gleaming  as  drops  of  dew 
in  a  garden  ;    here  and  there,  too,  like  a  brighter 

107 


Pierre  Garat 

blossom,  the  red  or  gold  or  yellow  of  silk  or  satin 
or  velvet.  High  over  the  murmur  and  hiss  of 
voices,  and  the  distant  click  of  glasses,  rang  Garat's 
tenor,  pathetic  as  a  violin  ;  or  the  violin,  human 
as  a  voice,  played  by  a  great  mulatto,  gorgeous 
in  silk  and  gold  ;  or  mingling  with  the  two,  like 
the  graver  notes  of  a  'cello,  Azevedo's  bass,  weaving 
a  fabric  of  lovely  sound. 

When  they  broke  up  the  opera  was  not  half  dis- 
cussed ;  and  Garat  must  walk  with  Saint-Georges 
to  a  certain  house,  for  a  mouthful  of  late  supper  and 
more  song  ;  for  Mme.  Dugazon  was  to  be  there 
after  her  evening's  triumph,  and  he  must  escort 
her  as  far  as  her  lodging. 

So  to-day  he  rises  late,  thankful  for  a  delicious 
cup  of  coffee  and  another  delightful  day.  .  .  . 
He  washes  luxuriously,  admiring  his  strong,  delicate 
hands,  the  supple  wrist,  touched  with  a  jetty  down. 
.  .  .  He  ought  to  play  the  violin  instead  of  the 
clavichord  :  it  shows  the  fingers  better.  .  .  .  He 
powders  his  hair  with  a  perfumed  powder,  dresses 
it  in  the  "  pigeon -wing "  mode;  and  lastly  ties 
it  at  the  back  in  a  silken  bag  ;  he  dons  the  shirt 
of  snowy  lawn,  the  tight  silken  breeches,  the  white 
silk  stockings,  and  the  shoes  with  golden  buckles  ; 
the  cravat  achieved,  it  is  the  turn  of  the  poplin 
waistcoat,  with  its  pattern  of  rich  embroidery  ;  now 
he  adjusts  the  sword  until  it  hangs  at  the  admired 
angle,  and  finally  assumes  the  coat  :  with  full, 
square    skirts,    a    snugly -fitting    waist,    wide    cuffs, 

1 08 


The  Education  of  a  Dandy 

and  porcelain  buttons.  Then,  being  satisfied  with 
the  sheen  of  stocking,  the  sit  of  breeches,  the  fall 
of  waistcoat,  and  the  hang  of  coat,  he  places  his 
three-cornered  hat  carefully  upon  his  head,  and 
is  ready  for  the  future.  Out  in  the  sunlight  he 
picks  his  way  ;  carefully,  down  the  quieter  streets, 
for  it  rained  in  the  early  morning ;  looking  up 
now  and  again,  from  placing  his  slender  feet — what 
good  fortune  that  it  is  a  pleasure  to  behold  them, 
since  he  must  walk  so  warily  !— at  the  diamond- 
paned  casements  of  the  old  frowning  houses,  whose 
eaves  nearly  meet  overhead  ;  there  is  only  a  blue 
river  of  dazzling  sky  ;  you  would  think  nothing 
could  be  brighter  until  a  pigeon  wings  across,  the 
sun  catching  the  snowy  plumage  under  the  wings. 
.  .  .  After  nine  full  hours  of  silence,  he  longs 
for  speech,  for  by  adoption  and  his  mother's  blood 
he  is  a  Gascon  ;  so  he  strolls  down  the  Avenue 
du  Bois,  very  erect,  very  haughty,  since  here 
already  one  meets  du  monde,  his  face  quite  pure 
of  expression,  save  perchance  of  an  austere  vacuity, 
until  he  reaches  the  triangle  of  pavement,  sur- 
rounded by  Tronchin  chairs,  between  the  Avenue, 
the  Arc  de  Triomphe  de  l'Etoile,  and  the  Rue 
de  Presbourg.  Here  is  the  Club  des  Pannes, 
the  chief  temple  of  Parisian  gossip,  whose  deity  is 
Rumour.  Primed  with  the  latest  scandal,  happy 
because  his  cravat  has  been  admired,  pleased  and 

annoyed  because  De  X has  copied  his  buttons 

— he  will   have   to   get  a  new   set,   and  they   were 

109 


Pierre  Garat 

costly — he  saunters  on  to  the  Bois,  where  the  riders 
are  chiefly  masculine  ;    but  a  few  carriages  go  by, 
and  the  crowd  of  strollers  is  already  dense.     Up 
the  long  ride,  flashing  blue  and  golden  in  the  sun, 
gay  against  the  sombre  trees  of  the  horizon,  comes 
a  group  of  horsemen  ;   Saint-Georges  goes  thunder- 
ing past,   with   a   cavalcade  of  friends  ;    they  pull 
up,  ride  back  and  halt,  the  horses  fidgeting.     They 
have  been  to  the  swimming-school  ;    the  fencing- 
school  ;    now  they  are  for  Versailles — or  who  was 
it   said   tennis  ?      Garat   should   play   tennis ;     why 
doesn't  he?    he  is  the  very  build.      Garat  has  no 
intention   of  playing   tennis  ;    he  might   not   excel, 
and  he  prefers  to  excel.    .    .    .   They  are  off,  with 
gay  cries  of  salute  ;    Garat  replaces  his  hat,  and 
returns    idly.      An    old    Basque    song    is    haunting 
him  ;    he  has   turned   the  words   into   French,   but 
a    rhyme    evades    him,    pest    upon    it  !      Well,    the 
rhyme    can    wait  :     these   are    those    verses    of   his 
own  ;     Dugazon    liked   them  ;     how   would   the   air 
go  ?     He  turns  out  of  the  Bois  through  the  busy 
Porte     de     la     Muette,     humming     as     he     goes  ; 
up  the  Avenue  Bois  de  Boulogne,  oblivious  of  the 
stream  of   returning   loungers  ;     passing   the   Club 
des  Pannes  without  noticing  a  waving  hand  ;    and 
at  last,  as  he  enters  the  Champs  Elysees,  the  air 
is  complete  ;    in  the  open  space  he  sings  it  under 
his    breath,    and    is    content.    .    .    .   The    walk    has 
given  him  an  appetite  ;    he  buys  a  glass  of  milk 
at  the  tent.     And  here,  by  good  luck,  is  Azevedo, 

no 


The  Education  of  a  Dandy 

from  a  morning's  work  at  his  new  part.  He  must 
have  Garat's  opinion  ;  Garat  must  hear  his  great 
aria.  Garat  listens,  as  they  walk  toward  the 
Tuileries  ;  they  stop  at  a  cafe,  and  sit  outside  in 
the  sun .  Garat  watches  as  well  as  he  listens  ;  if 
Azevedo  does  not  cure  himself  of  one  or  two  little 
mannerisms,  he  will  sooner  or  later  regret  it,  for 
he,  Garat,  will  mimic  them  .  .  .  and  before  a 
certain  lady.  Well,  and  shall  they  lunch  together? 
No ;  Garat  has  an  appointment.  .  .  .  Till  to- 
night, then,  at  the  Palais.    .    .    . 

Dugazon  awaits  him  very  much  at  ease,  in  a 
ravishing  peignoir  of  transparent  chiffon.  The 
lunch  is  so-so  ;  it  does  not  matter ;  he  is 
genuinely  in  love.  She,  too,  is  full  of  the  new 
opera.  Azevedo  has  the  loveliest  aria.  .  .  .  She 
sings  a  bar  under  her  breath  ;  Garat  continues. 
.  .  .  Now,  how  did  he  know  ?  For  until  to-day 
not  a  soul  saw  the  score  .  .  .  yet  he  has  the  thing 
note-perfect.  .  .  .  Garat  loves  a  mystery  ;  he 
teazes  her.  Then  to  her  dressing-room,  where  she 
changes.  .  .  .  She  is  full  of  the  trials  of  life 
.  .  .  she  wishes  she  were  not  married.  .  .  . 
Garat  is  still  in  love,  but  he  is  not  sure  that  he 
regrets  the  marriage.  .  .  .  She  drives  him  as  far 
as  the  Palais-Royal,  having  to  pay  a  visit ;  he 
buys  a  paper  in  the  garden,  and  lingers  a  moment 
by  the  sundial,  but  the  crowd  is  too  mixed.  .  .  . 
What  shall  he  do  ?  There  is  a  concert  ...  or 
they  say  the  marionettes  are  good  this  week  ;    the 

in 


Pierre  Garat 

patter  is  wickedly  clever  in  respect  of  poor  Delille. 
.  .  .  No,  he  will  see  Gretry.  Gr£try  is  hammer- 
ing at  a  piano  littered  with  manuscript  music. 
Garat  is  of  all  men  the  most  welcome  ;  he  comes 
like  an  angel,  with  an  angel's  voice.  Let  him 
try  the  new  solo  ...  it  has  never  yet  been  sung. 
.  .  .  Three  hours  of  strenuous  singing,  the  room 
gradually  filling  ;  Piccini  looks  in  at  last,  and  the 
eternal  abuse  of  Gluck  recommences.  .  .  .  Garat 
escapes.  He  dines,  and  calls  upon  Mme.  Le  Brun  ; 
she  begs  him  to  sup  with  her  that  night,  and  asks 
his  opinion  of  her  latest  picture.  He  does  not 
stay  long  ;  there  are  too  many  English,  who  do 
not  seem  to  know  who  he  is.  .  .  .  Home  to 
change  ;  then  he  drops  into  the  Palais-Royal  once 
more  ;  a  new  lampoon  is  out ;  he  settles  down, 
on  the  edge  of  a  crowd  of  acquaintances, 
to  wait  until  the  hour  of  the  opera.  He  takes 
his  place  at  the  entry  and  watches  the  entering 
crowd  ;  d'Artois  strolls  up  with  de  Vaudreuil ; 
the  one  genial,  the  other  exquisite  ;  de  Chartres 
and  de  Genlis  swagger  by,  the  coppery  Orleans 
features  flushed  with  drink.  It  is  a  gala  night. 
The  Prince  stops.  What  does  Garat  think  the 
chances  of  the  opera?  Is  it  true  that  he  has  heard 
the  music  ?  Garat  avers,  gravely,  that  the  music 
is  good  ;  the  opera  should  be  a  success  ;  it  is 
not  Gluck,  but  there  are  beauties  in  it.  A  dozen 
listeners  spread  the  news  like  an  infection  ;  he 
has  made  the  success  of  the  piece  before  it  has 

112 


MME.    DUGAZON. 
(As  Xina  in  Folic  pour  iamour.) 

From  a  lithograph  in  colour. 


To  face  p. 


The  Education  of  a  Dandy 

been  played  ;  composer  and  artist  will  go  home 
happy,  and  to-morrow  their  creditors  will  look  up 
certain  debts  they  had  almost  written  off  as  bad. 

As  the  overture  commences  he  strolls  to  his  box  ; 
sitting  well  forward,  grave,  collected,  with  languid 
eyelids  ;  gently  nodding  with  approval,  or  waving 
time  with  one  slender,  nervous  hand.  After  the 
great  aria,  in  the  third  scene,  he  softly,  inaudibly 
claps  his  hands,  and  the  house  thunders  applause. 

He  strolls  behind  the  scenes  in  the  interval  ; 
past  the  dancers'  foyer,  a  crowd  of  muslin  dancers 
and  silken  citizens  ;  by  Azevedo's  door  the 
director,  beaming,  greets  him ;  de  Chartres 
passes,  with  a  pretty  young  girl  on  his  arm. 
.  .  .  Azevedo  is  nervous  ;  his  great  scene  is  to 
come  ;  but  Garat  leaves  him  happy  ;  he  is  always 
cheerful,  with  the  deep  cheerfulness  of  immense 
vitality.  He  returns  to  the  theatre;  you  can  no 
longer  hear  behind  the  scenes,  the  setting  of  the 
Temple  scene  creates  such  an  uproar ;  in  the 
theatre  a  great  lady  beckons  with  her  fan,  and 
he  seeks  her  box.  .  .  .  When  all  is  over  he  escorts 
her  to  her  chair  ;  Mme.  Le  Brun  is  soon  dis- 
covered ;  the  night  is  chilly,  so  they  go  straight 
to  her  apartment,  a  party  of  eight  or  ten.  After 
supper  Garat  must  sing  ;  and,  singing,  he  reviews 
the  opera,  criticizing  it  by  the  medium  of 
mimicry  ;  it  is  kindly  enough,  but  pitilessly  true 
.  .  .  it  is  a  tearful  party  that  endeavours  to  sober 
down  while  a  poet  reads  his  verses.    .    .    .    He  must 

113  H 


The  Education  of  a  Dandy 

been  played  ;  composer  and  artist  will  go  home 
happy,  and  to-morrow  their  creditors  will  look  up 
certain  debts  they  had  almost  written  off  as  bad. 

As  the  overture  commences  he  strolls  to  his  box  ; 
sitting  well  forward,  grave,  collected,  with  languid 
eyelids  ;  gently  nodding  with  approval,  or  waving 
time  with  one  slender,  nervous  hand.  After  the 
great  aria,  in  the  third  scene,  he  softly,  inaudibly 
claps  his  hands,  and  the  house  thunders  applause. 

He  strolls  behind  the  scenes  in  the  interval  ; 
past  the  dancers'  foyer,  a  crowd  of  muslin  dancers 
and  silken  citizens  ;  by  Azevedo's  door  the 
director,  beaming,  greets  him  ;  de  Chartres 
passes,  with  a  pretty  young  girl  on  his  arm. 
.  .  .  Azevedo  is  nervous  ;  his  great  scene  is  to 
come  ;  but  Garat  leaves  him  happy  ;  he  is  always 
cheerful,  with  the  deep  cheerfulness  of  immense 
vitality.  He  returns  to  the  theatre;  you  can  no 
longer  hear  behind  the  scenes,  the  setting  of  the 
Temple  scene  creates  such  an  uproar ;  in  the 
theatre  a  great  lady  beckons  with  her  fan,  and 
he  seeks  her  box.  .  .  .  When  all  is  over  he  escorts 
her  to  her  chair ;  Mme.  Le  Brun  is  soon  dis- 
covered ;  the  night  is  chilly,  so  they  go  straight 
to  her  apartment,  a  party  of  eight  or  ten.  After 
supper  Garat  must  sing  ;  and,  singing,  he  reviews 
the  opera,  criticizing  it  by  the  medium  of 
mimicry  ;  it  is  kindly  enough,  but  pitilessly  true 
.  .  .  it  is  a  tearful  party  that  endeavours  to  sober 
down  while  a  poet  reads  his  verses.    .    .    .    He  must 

113  H 


Pierre  Garat 

leave  early,  for  at  another  house  he  will  find 
Dugazon  ;  in  these  days  twice  a  day  is  not  too 
often  to  meet  her.  .  .  .  The  moon  is  out  again 
as  he  sees  her  to  her  door,  but  is  clouded  as  he 
goes  at  last  homeward,  down  the  middle  of  the 
wider  side-streets,  the  handle  of  his  sword  loosened 
in  its  scabbard,  humming  below  his  breath  the 
old  Basque  song,  for  the  rhyme  he  sought  has 
been  found  at  last.    .    .    . 

Other  days,  and  they  were  many,  were  spent 
at  Versailles.  Nominally,  he  gave  the  Queen 
lessons  ;  actually,  he  was  a  favourite  ;  one  of  those 
beings,  half-courtier  and  half-friend,  who  may  be 
permitted  to  see  royalty  off  its  guard  and  share  in 
its  moments  of  distraction.  They  sang  often 
together ;  the  Queen,  whose  tastes  were  simple, 
loved  the  old  Basque  songs  which  he  had  learned 
in  the  villages  about  Ustaritz.  In  the  shadowy 
park  of  the  Trianon  they  wandered  on  sunny 
mornings  ;  Marie  Antoinette  dressed  more  simply 
than  any  of  her  ladies-in-waiting ;  conversing, 
singing,  dancing  on  the  lawns,  gathering  flowers, 
or  watching  the  carp  among  the  lily-stems. 

Or  the  afternoon  was  spent  in  the  new  Trianon 
Theatre,  a  delightful  little  building,  a  casket  of 
rose  and  white,  where  Apollo,  on  the  ceiling,  led 
the  Muses  across  the  clouds  of  heaven.  Here 
Garat  sang  his  favourite  airs  from  Gluck,  the 
Queen  serving  as  accompanist  or  joining  him  in 
the     duets  ;     his    audience    the     King,     Monsieur, 

114 


The  Education  of  a  Dandy 

d'Artois,  de  Vaudreuil,  Esterhazy,  Guiche,  with  the 
ladies  Guiche,  Polignac,  Polastron,  and  a  score 
of  others,  bearers  of  historic  names,  many  of 
whose  houses  were  open  to  him,  for  he  was  a 
general  favourite  personally,  not  only  for  his  perfect 
voice.  It  is  not  probable,  however,  that  he  made 
one  of  the  dramatic  society  which  so  often  per- 
formed in  this  theatre  ;  his  birth  was  not  suffi- 
cient ;  and  had  that  obstacle  not  existed,  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  he  might  have  distrusted 
his  own  powers  of  acting.  Garat  was  not  a  man 
willingly  to  appear  at  a  disadvantage. 

The  education  of  our  dandy  was  proceeding 
apace.  He  was  not  only  the  arbiter  of  musical 
taste ;  he  was  becoming,  in  every  sense,  "  the 
fashion."  This  was  an  affair  that  called  for 
money.  Mme.  Le  Brun  might  achieve  a  social 
success  no  less  than  her  artistic  triumph ;  and, 
winning  it,  might  wear  a  simple  robe  of  muslin 
or  of  linen,  or,  for  that  matter,  a  painter's  pinafore. 
She  was  a  painter,  and  a  woman,  and  the  painter 
was  permitted  such  licence.  Garat  was  half-way 
between  the  Court  and  the  stage ;  for  him  fine 
feathers  were  a  necessity  of  life. 

The  society  he  mixed  in  did  not  set  him  the 
example  of  economy.  The  Princess  de  Guemen^e- 
Rohan,  bankrupt,  like  her  husband,  owed  £2,400 
to  her  shoemaker  alone ;  another  Rohan,  the 
Cardinal,    paid    over    £4,000    for   an   embroidered 

115 


Pierre  Garat 

alb  ;  M .  de  Montmorin  was  indebted  to  his 
tailor  to  the  extent  of  £7,000.  If  Garat  had  not 
to  maintain  the  position  of  such  persons  as  these, 
he  had  at  least  to  rival  Azevedo  and  his  colleagues, 
Saint-Georges  and  his  followers,  and  outshine  the 
mob  of  actors  and  singers,  spoiled  favourites  of 
fortune  and  the  Court. 

Moreover,  as  a  leader  of  fashion,  the  tailors, 
shoemakers,  breeches-makers,  hosiers,  and  haber- 
dashers of  Paris  would  compete  for  his  custom  by 
the  time-worn  method  of  offering  unlimited  credit ; 
and  having  him  well  in  their  toils  would  commence 
to  make  his  life  a  burden.  The  salary  of  a  secre- 
tary to  the  cabinet  of  the  Comte  d'Artois  was  in- 
sufficient to  meet  such  demands.  More  money  he 
must  have  ;  and,  as  usual,  it  must  be  the  nation's 
money ;  the  patron  of  art — financiers  were  an 
honourable  exception — preferred  to  be  the  instru- 
ment rather  than  the  fount  of  patronage. 

Again  de  Vaudreuil  came  to  the  rescue,  after 
consulting  with  Marie  Antoinette.  In  the  June 
of  1784  a  certain  Sieur  Morel,  connected  with 
the  Opera  on  its  literary  side,  had  been  appointed 
Administrator-General  of  the  Royal  Lottery  of 
France.  In  September  of  the  same  year  the  lottery 
was  further  burdened  by  three  annual  "  pensions," 
each  of  £240  :  one  in  favour  of  Garat,  one  for 
friend  Azevedo,  and  one  for  Louet,  whose  skill  at 
the  clavecin  was  admired  by  the  kindly  Queen. 

116 


The  Education  of  a  Dandy 

This  further  sum  did  not  always  suffice  ;  twice, 
in  the  years  immediately  before  the  Revolution, 
Garat's  indebtedness  reached  a  crisis,  and  on  both 
occasions  his  debts  were  settled  by  Marie 
Antoinette.  He  was  then  more  than  singer  to 
the  Queen  :  he  might  fairly  call  himself  a  friend  ; 
his  affection  and  respect  and  gratitude  were  deep 
and  sincere  ;  to  the  end  of  his  Hfe  he  looked  back 
on  the  days  spent  beside  her  as  the  happiest  he 
had  known.  Scandal,  aware  of  his  reputation  with 
women,  and  eager,  in  later  days,  to  blacken  a 
woman  so  cruelly  destroyed,  declared  him  her 
lover  ;  but  there  is  no  reason  why  we  should 
accept  the  suggestion.  We  can  hardly  believe  that 
Mme.  Dugazon  did  so,  who  endangered  her 
head  by  her  public  avowal  of  loyalty ;  this 
was  hardly  the  action  of  a  jealous  woman.  Of 
course,  it  is  possible  to  retort  that  she  may  have 
been  incapable  of  jealousy ;  but  why  champion 
her  at  the  expense  of  the  Queen  ? 

It  was  after  the  bestowal  of  this  second  sinecure 
that  Garat,  once  more  breathing  the  air  of  Paris 
freely,  able  to  give  himself  entirely  to  the  life  he 
loved,  proud  of  his  success  and  the  practical 
recognition  it  had  won,  approached  his  father  with 
a  view  to  reconciliation  ;  a  little,  perhaps,  for  the 
pleasure  of  proving  him  wrong.  There  is  no  doubt, 
however,  that  Garat  loved  the  sturdy  parliamen- 
tarian, and  had  suffered  from  the  estrangement. 

Dominique    Garat's    reply    was    worthy    of    the 

117 


Pierre  Garat 

ornament  of  a  Roman  forum  :  "I  am  not  unaware, 
my  son,  that  in  degenerate  Rome  ballad-singers 
and  actors  were   the   favourites  of  emperors." 

It  was  a  harsh  reply  ;   but  human.     It  is  difficult 
to  realize,  in  these  days,  the  scorn,  hatred,  jealousy, 
and      contempt      with     which      the      steady-going 
bourgeois  regarded  the  actor.      He,  the  merchant, 
banker,   or  advocate,   had   to   serve   long   years   of 
apprenticeship,    to    live    cleanly    and    toil    unceas- 
ingly, and  was  fortunate  if  he  won  a  position  of 
some  dignity  and  ease  ;     it  was  bitter  to   see  the 
nobles  who  bled  him,  despised  him,  insulted  him, 
and  blocked  the  way  to  all  national  service,  making 
much  of  mere  empty-headed  rogues  who  came  from 
God  knows  where,  lived  evil  lives,  and  for  all  merit 
had  a  trick  of  mouthing  and  posturing.       As  for 
their  women  !      Moreover,  the  actor  might  at  any 
moment  be  haled  off  the  stage  to  prison,  and  the 
brand   of   prison,    in   an    unjust   world,    was   never 
effaced   by    mere    innocence.      Garat's    father    was 
not  peculiar. 

It  is  possible,  of  course,  that  he  did  not  realize  the 
boy's  own  dislike  of  the  stage.  It  is  possible  that 
he  had  believed  it  so  impracticable  that  the  boy 
should  continue  penniless  and  without  a  profes- 
sion that  he  regarded  an  immediate  surrender  as 
inevitable,  probably  thought  the  threat  sufficient. 
But  there  was  no  surrender.  Garat  was  expected 
to  play  the  part  of  the  Prodigal  Son.  If  now  and 
again  he  consorted  with  swine,  he  was  not  reduced 

118 


The  Education  of  a  Dandy 

to  the  husks  they  had  eaten  ;  but  fared  with  them 
sumptuously  upon  wholesome  diet.  Never  was 
prophet  of  disaster  more  disappointed.  There  is 
temper  in  the  laconic  reply. 

Finding  that  he  was  wrong,  he  could  not  give 
in.  He  was  an  upright  man  and  a  man  of  his 
word.  The  "  man  of  his  word  "  will  cheerfully 
see  himself  proved  wrong,  will  see  himself  the 
author  of  tragedy  and  disaster  ;  but  what  he 
said  he  will  perform.  In  this  case,  however,  the 
tragedy  was  lacking. 

The  man  whom  life  has  defeated  seeks  to  live 
again  in  his  children,  and  this  time  to  succeed. 
His  son's  follies  are  dreadful  to  him ;  they  fill 
him  with  rage  and  despair  ;  it  is  as  though  one  stole 
his  own  long-deferred  opportunities.  The  success- 
ful man,  except  in  the  grip  of  mental  or  physical 
decay,  is  more  concerned  that  his  son  shall  not 
disgrace  him.  Dominique  Garat  was  successful  ; 
it  is  probable  that  this  was  his  attitude. 

Yet,  in  the  younger  man's  place,  it  is  probable 
that  he,  Dominique,  would  gladly  have  followed 
the  same  path.  Garat's  love  of  his  art  was  pro- 
found, and  he  was  its  unapproached  master  ;  he 
was,  moreover,  feeling  his  way  to  the  writing  of 
songs.  To  him  the  course  he  took  can  hardly 
have  seemed  a  short  cut  to  the  Pit. 

But  it  was  impossible  for  Dominique  to  see  with 
a  young  man's  eyes.  Few  of  us  can  escape  from 
the  moment  and  ourselves  of  the  moment. 

119 


Pierre  Garat 

The  grandmother,  to  whom  exertion  is  dangerous 
and  noise  a  pain,  commends  her  granddaughters 
to  silence  and  a  measured  bearing  as  to  a  moral 
duty.  The  old  man  who  shrinks  from  new  experi- 
ence, having  barely  sufficient  vitality  to  meet  the 
demands  of  his  environment,  condemns  the  nomadic 
nostalgia  of  the  boy,  counselling  an  office-stool  and 
an  early  bedtime.  The  old  debauche  takes  refuge 
in  snarling  scandal,  condemning  a  natural  licence, 
even  a  healthy  freedom  ;  or  seeks  consolation  in 
religion  ;  the  future  is  no  longer  full  of  imminent 
promise,  so  he  turns  to  those  who  exploit  his  plight, 
offering,  upon  conditions,  a  future  free  of  physical 
disabilities.  The  old,  when  they  have  not  the 
detachment  and  the  honesty  to  know  that  they 
regret  the  delights  of  physical  life,  are  meanly,  if 
unconsciously,  jealous  of  the  young. 

Rare  indeed  is  the  man  who  can  take  his  stand 
on  the  experience  not  of  his  own  person,  but  on 
that  of  the  race  ;  who  can  admit  that  he  is  chiefly 
thankful  for  those  moments  of  violent  joys,  of 
fugitive  and  unprofitable  delight,  when  the  tide 
of  life  was  at  its  fullest.  The  object  of  life  is 
to  live,  but  we  conceal  the  truth  with  many  words, 
although  the  civilizations  and  religions  of  the  world 
are  based  upon  this  rock.  So,  with  wry  faces,  we 
condemn  youth  for  drinking  the  cup  whose  refusal 
were  a  sin  against  youth  and  life. 

If  Dominique  Garat  was  partly  right  he  was 
certainly     largely     wrong,    after     the     fashion     of 

120 


The  Education  of  a  Dandy 

humanity.  Perhaps  Garat's  life  was  happier  and 
more  beneficial  as  he  lived  it  than  it  would  have 
been  had  he  helped  to  clog  and  complicate  exist- 
ence as  an  advocate.  He  lived  by  the  joys  of 
others,  not  by  their  woes  ;  a  distinction,  however, 
that  has  always  been  held  discreditable.  We  give 
the  name  of  parasite  so  readily  to  those  who  purvey 
the  pleasant  things  ;  and  thereby  we  make  them 
ignoble  and  taint  the  pleasure  of  life,  since  only 
the  philosopher  and  the  religious  can  stand  against 
a  bad  name.  Yet  the  true  parasite  is  he  who 
sucks  the  blood  of  the  perplexed  and  afflicted,  and 
weaves  his  web  to  snare  their  feet.  Garat,  how- 
ever, overcame  the  poison  of  scorn  ;  not  as  philo- 
sopher, but  as  religious  ;  for  the  artist  is  the 
devotee  of  beauty,  and  the  dandy  the  worshipper 
of  beauty  and  the  human  self. 


121 


CHAPTER    VI 
THE   END   OF   THE   OLD   PARIS.     A   VISIT   HOME 

Garat  and  the  theatre — The  Italian  singers — Mozart — Garat's  first 
concerts — Society  in  Paris  before  the  Revolution — Its  morality 
—  "  Sensibility  "  —  Cagliostro  —  Freemasonry  —  Manner  and 
manners — More  Parisian  gossip — Garat  visits  Bordeaux — Beck 
—The  benefit  concert — A  reconciliation — The  end  of  a  period. 

The  years  between  1784  and  1789  were  the 
happiest  of  Garat's  life,  and  in  some  respects  the 
most  brilliant.  As  befits  a  happy  period,  their 
history  was  not  remarkable.  Two  years  after  the 
scathing  rebuke  administered  by  his  father,  the 
singer  paid  a  visit  to  Bordeaux  ;  he  effected  a 
reconciliation,  was  feasted  and  admired  to  his 
heart's  content,  and  returned  to  fresh  triumphs  in 
Paris.  During  these  years  he  became  a  Free- 
mason ;  twice  he  ran  into  debt,  to  be  rescued  by 
the  Queen  herself  ;  for  the  rest,  he  went  his  way  ; 
always  a  student,  always  a  sincere  artist  ;  but 
otherwise  lounging,  tattling,  posing,  making  love, 
and  always  talking  and  making  music ;  the 
modern  Orpheus,  the  prince  of  amateurs,  the 
darling  of  the  Trianon,  the  Brummel  of 
the  city. 

122 


The  End  of  the  Old   Paris 

Much   of   his   day   was   spent   at   the   theatre  or 
among     persons     and    things     theatrical.       Every 
evening  saw  him  in  his  loge  or  fauteuil:   sometimes 
at  the  Comedie,  often  at  the  Opera,  most  often  at 
the  Comedie-Italienne.     He  never  tired  of  hearing 
these  marvellous   singers  :    the  male  soprani,  now 
only  names — Farinelli,  Cafarelli,  Orsini,  Bernachi ; 
the     rivals,     Todi    and     Mara,     whose     respective 
merits   at   one   time   aroused   a   storm   of   partisan 
feeling  comparable  to  the  battle  of  Gluckists  and 
Piccinists  ;    Mengotti,  Gabrielli,  Grassini    ...   all 
wonders   of   virtuosity,   professors   of  //  bel  canto, 
products  of  a  childhood  of  arduous  training.     But 
if  he  admired  their  skill,  if  he  listened  with  delight 
to  the  operas  of  the  Italian  school,  he  was  never 
in  doubt  as  to  the  supremacy  of  Gluck,  and  when 
the  genius  of  Mozart  had  at  last  obtained  a  hear- 
ing in  Paris  Garat  was  one  of  the  first  to  realize 
the    true    calibre    of    the    ill-fated    German.      He 
came  to  Paris  too  late  to  meet  Mozart ;    unhappily, 
perhaps,  for  the  latter,  who,  after  a  childhood  of 
amazing    brilliance,    had    been    expelled    from    the 
paternal  roof  for  presuming  to  fall  in  love.     Sent 
to   Paris   with   his   mother,   he   found   himself   that 
tragic  figure,  a  prodigy  grown  up  and  forgotten  ; 
before  the  right  was  won  his  beloved  mother  died, 
and  three  years  before  Garat  left  Bordeaux  Mozart 
had  returned  miserably  to   Salzburg.      As   it  was, 
Garat  played  a  considerable   part   in  making  him 
known  to  the  Parisians,  singing  his  operas  at  Court 

123 


Pierre  Garat 

or   in   Paris,   and   winning   a   particular   fame   for 
certain  airs  out  of  Don  Giovanni. 

He  had  never  yet  sung  in  public  ;  his  position 
and  his  traditions  made  it  impossible.  He  did, 
however,  appear  at  certain  private  concerts  ;  the 
famous  Concerts  Spirituels  of  the  Court,  where  he 
sang,  not  for  the  first  time,  in  company  with  the 
superhuman  Saint-Huberty. 

Did  he  sing  also  at  the  Caveau?  It  is  almost 
certain  ;  we  know  that  Azevedo  did  so.  The 
Caveau  was  a  kind  of  academy  of  song.  It  had 
been  originally  founded,  in  1729,  by  a  grocer-poet, 
Gallet,  who  gave  weekly  musical  dinners  at  the 
back  of  his  shop  ;  it  was  afterwards  transferred 
to  the  Cabaret  Landelle  in  the  Rue  de  Buci,  at 
the  sign  of  the  Caveau:  whence  the  name. 
Famous  before  the  mid-century,  it  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  nobility  ;  for  some  reason  trouble 
ensued,  and  the  meetings  were  abandoned.  In 
1759  they  recommenced,  and  were  so  successful 
that  the  Revolution  merely  caused  their  temporary 
suppression. 

It  is  probable  also  that  he  was  often  a  guest 
at  the  Chateau  de  la  Muette,  near  the  gate  of 
that  name,  in  Passy,  where  Mme.  Filleul  was 
hostess  of  a  brilliant  circle,  including  both  the 
Cheniers,  Pastoret,  Pange,  and  others. 

Were  we  required  in  a  phrase  to  describe  the 
principal  pursuits  of  Parisian  society  in  the  years 

124 


The  End  of  the  Old  Paris 

before  the  advent  of  change,  we  might  reply,  with 
a  fair  show  of  justification  :  scandal,  the  theatre, 
and  intrigue. 

Gallic  society  has  always  assembled  mainly  for 
the  purpose  of  speech,  and  in  a  period  of  easy 
morals  the  chief  purpose  of  speech  is  to  talk 
scandal.  It  must  be  so,  unless  the  laxity  of  morals 
be  sanctioned  by  an  easy  philosophy  ;  and  in  the 
years  we  are  considering  the  old  sanctions  were  still 
sufficiently  admitted — in  practice  if  not  in  theory 
— to  give  a  piquancy  to  transgression. 

Laxity  of  life,  the  criticism  of  that  laxity,  and 
the  theatre :  they  made  a  natural  trinity.  The 
theatre  assisted  laxity,  profited  by  it,  criticized  it, 
expressed  and  exalted  it. 

For  many  centuries  France  had  relegated  to 
celibacy  those  who  felt  no  early  vocation  for  the 
domestic  life.  Thereby  she  extirpated,  bred  out 
of  the  race,  not  only  many  natural  celibates,  but 
many  who,  by  the  accident  of  self-control,  or  tem- 
perate blood,  or  a  shrinking  from  the  ugliness  of 
life,  or  a  superabundance  of  unselfish  enthusiasm, 
or  a  mere  lack  of  wealth,  were  set  aside  before 
they  had  realized  their  own  natures.  The  natural 
result  was  to  make  natural  temperance  a  some- 
what unusual  characteristic.  Moreover,  the  French 
family  continued  to  control  the  marriage  of  its 
members.  Marriage  was  not  by  inclination  ; 
naturally,      therefore,     it     often     entailed     repug- 

125 


Pierre  Garat 

nance ;  naturally  romance  was  shy  of  the 
domestic  hearth.  At  a  period  somewhat  earlier 
than  that  we  are  considering  a  wave  of  "  sensi- 
bility," of  romanticism  of  a  kind,  produced  a  new 
literature  and  a  new  vital  atmosphere.  It  was 
not  strange,  therefore,  that  many  members  of  a 
leisured,  highly-nourished  aristocracy  made  roman- 
tic or  venal  intrigue  the  serious  business  of  life. 
So  general  was  illicit  love  that  irregular  connections 
were  almost  respectable.  Had  they  been  openly 
and  generally  regarded  as  respectable,  half  their 
charm  had  evaporated.  Here,  then,  the  function 
of  scandal  :  a  criticism  that  gave  the  transgressor 
a  sense  of  transgression,  of  unlawful  liberty,  with- 
out alarming  his  conscience.  So  general,  that  a 
lady  who  had  no  lover,  who  perhaps  desired  none, 
would  take  unlimited  pains  to  appear  to  have  one. 
As  for  the  men,  they  were  permitted  any  folly, 
any  monstrosity  of  extravagance.  To  ruin  oneself 
for  a  cocotte  was  then,  as  later,  a  passport  to 
circles  of  the  highest  ton.  As  for  expense  of  time  : 
the  Marquis  of  Villeroy,  in  order  to  visit  his  mistress 
unquestioned,  dressed  himself  in  the  apron  and 
cap  of  a  lemonade-seller,  and  every  morning  bore 
a  cup  of  chocolate  to  Mile.  Duboscq  of  the 
Comedie-Francaise . 

This  system  of  morality — for  it  almost  amounted 
to  a  system — had  one  good  and  healthy  result  : 
the  free  and  unrestrained  intercourse  of  the  sexes 
in  society.     At  a  time  when  in  England  the  women, 

126 


The  End  of  the  Old  Paris 

of  an  evening,  sat  primly  massed  at  one  end  of  the 
drawing-room,  and  conversation  was  a  lost  art, 
the  Frenchwoman,  without  loss  of  caste  or  self- 
respect,  might  receive  callers  at  any  hour  of  the 
day  ;  in  her  salon,  her  bedchamber,  her  dressing- 
room,  or  even  her  bath.  The  latter  habit  was 
innocent  enough.  It  was  and  is  the  custom  on  the 
Continent  for  the  bather  to  wear  a  sheet ;  and 
many  ladies  bathed  in  an  opaque  mixture  of  milk 
and  water. 

The  artificiality,  arrogance,  and  narrow  self- 
satisfaction  of  an  earlier  period  had  evoked  the 
inevitable  reaction.  If  Lavoisier,  Laplace,  and 
others  were  earnestly  inquiring  into  the  true  nature 
of  the  world  and  its  inhabitants ;  if  Voltaire, 
Rousseau,  Diderot,  and  Mably  were  inquiring  into 
the  nature  of  society  and  the  validity  of  its 
sanctions,  so,  too,  the  veriest  worldling  went 
through  life  with  open  eyes  and  ears.  It  was 
an  eager,  curious,  receptive  age  ;  the  Parisian  liked 
to  call  himself  the  New  Athenian,  for  ever  seeking 
out  some  new  thing. 

The  result  was  not,  as  might  have  been  hoped, 
a  spirit  of  lucid  inquiry,  but  a  readiness  to  believe 
without  question,  and  an  orgy  of  "  sensibility." 
Elegant  aristocrats  talked,  quite  insincerely,  of  the 
return  to  nature ;  rather  more  sincerely  of  the 
beauties  of  nature.  Marie  Antoinette,  at  the 
Trianon,    wore    simple    "  shepherdess  "    dresses    of 

127 


Pierre  Garat 

muslin,  and  erected  a  dairy  whose  utensils  were 
of  Sevres  porcelain  ;  great  ladies  bore  beribboned 
crooks  ;  hats  and  coiffures  were  a  la  bergere,  a 
la  laitiere  ;  the  fete  champetre,  with  its  deliberately 
simple  delights,  drew  people  to  meadow  or  forest 
or  park  ;  and  this  highly  sophisticated,  satiated, 
worldly  society  delighted  in  and  wept  over  tales 
of  the  innocent  loves  of  children,  of  pseudo -classic 
nymphs  and  shepherds,  or  of  quite  impossible 
savages.  The  world  looked  backward  over  its 
shoulder,  and  saw  perfection.  In  the  beginning 
was  the  golden  age,  when  all  were  equal,  all  vir- 
tuous, all  beautiful,  all  happy.  In  the  beginning 
men  were  truly  wise  ;  even  as  lately  as  the  days  of 
Greece  there  were  philosophers  whose  wisdom  had 
never  been  approached.  If  we  would  be  wise  and 
happy,  we  should  seek  to  re-enter  the  past. 

It  is  as  difficult  to-day  to  read  Entile  or  La 
Nouvelle  Helo'ise  as  it  is  to  wade  through  Pamela  or 
Sir  Charles  Grandison  or  Clarissa  Harlowe.  But  the 
Frenchman  of  those  days  not  only  read  these  in- 
terminable, inflated,  super-sentimental  productions  ; 
he  revelled  in  them,  wept  over  them,  raved  over 
them,  recited  them.  "  After  the  first  few  pages," 
says  Thiebault,  '  I  was  in  delirium.  Indeed  I 
did  not  read,  I  devoured  the  book.  The  days 
were  not  enough  ;  I  employed  the  nights  in  read- 
ing ;  and  from  emotion  to  emotion,  from  amaze- 
ment to  amazement,  I  arrived  at  Saint-Preux'  last 
letter,    no    longer    weeping    but    crying,    bellowing 

128 


The  End  of  the  Old  Paris 

like  an  animal  !  It  was  three  in  the  morning.  .  .  . 
I  was  frightened  at  the  state  I  was  in  ...  it  was 
impossible  to  sleep  ...  it  was  a  week  before  I 
dared  to  resume  the  last  volume  of  this  book, 
which  I  could  only  finish  by  reading  half  a  page 
or  a  quarter  of  a  page  at  a  time.  .  .  ."  This  was 
the  effect  of  the  Noavelle  Helo'ise  on  a  boy  ! 

So  far  the  love  of  simplicity,  of  nature,  of 
simple  virtue  was  purely  a  literary  pose.  At  first 
sight  Freemasonry  seems  to  have  little  connection 
with  this  pose.  But  one  of  the  great  popularizers 
of  Freemasonry  was  Cagliostro  ;  and  in  his  hands 
it  professed  to  reveal  not  only  the  secrets  of  nature, 
but  the  wisdom  of  the  past.  Blind  to  the  future 
as  to  the  present,  the  inquiring  mind  could  turn 
only  to  the  past ;  and  astrology,  occultism,  mag- 
netism, and  the  like  seemed  to  be  so  many  magic 
doors  whereby  the  initiate  might  attain  a  short 
cut  to  wisdom.  The  trouble  with  society  at  large 
was  simply  that  it  had  grown  too  intelligent,  or 
at  least  too  inquiring,  for  the  pitiful  amount  of 
knowledge  at  its  disposal.  It  thirsted  for  more  and 
had  not  a  notion  how  to  obtain  it. 

Cagliostro  was  in  Paris  during  the  years  we  are 

chronicling  ;    the  affair  of  the  Diamond  Necklace 

was  the  beginning  of  his  downfall.  He  had,  however, 

left  his  mark  :    he  was  the  introducer  of  hypnotism 

and  he  increased  the  popularity  of  Freemasonry.1 

1  Cagliostro  was  the  first  of  the  many  charlatans  who  have  brought 
hypnotism   into   disrepute.     A   valuable   aid   to   mental    discipline 

129  I 


Pierre  Garat 

As  Garat  was  a  Mason,  a  brief  description  of 
the  masonic  movement  in  France  will  be  in 
place.  The  old  "  operative  "  masonry — a  kind  of 
syndicalism,  akin  to  a  vast  guild  or  trades  union 
— was  extinct  upon  the  Continent.  The  new 
"  speculative  "  masonry  dated  from  1725.  The  first 
lodge  in  Paris  was  founded  by  Lord  Derwentwater. 
The  "  mystery,"  at  first  an  amusement  of  the 
nobility,  was  put  to  Jacobite  uses  ;  it  soon  became 
suspect  in  other  ways  ;  Louis  XV  and  the  Pope 
sought  to  suppress  it,  and  the  Jesuits  to  capture 
it.     A  wild  confusion  of  Dresden  rituals,  Scottish 

and  the  cure  of  many  nervous  and  mental  diseases,  it  was  employed 
by  him  to  mystify,  amaze,  impress,  and  control. 

Cagliostro  had  travelled  in  various  Oriental  countries  where  the 
uses  of  hypnotism  are  understood.  How  far  he  employed  it  in 
the  affair  of  the  Diamond  Necklace,  if  he  did  so  employ  it  at  all, 
we  shall  never  know  ;  certain  it  is  that  the  hypothesis  would  explain 
much  that  is  obscure.  We  do  know  that  he  worked  many  remark- 
able "  cures  " ;  also  that  apparently  sane  persons  related  the  most 
stupendous  marvels  in  respect  of  his  feats  of  occultism,  and  were 
able  to  believe,  for  example,  that  his  beautiful  young  wife  was  sixty 
years  of  age.  All  this  smells  of  hypnotism  dishonestly  used.  It 
is  almost  impossible  to  set  limits  to  the  power  which  a  skilful  and 
dishonest  hypnotist  might  obtain.  Once  a  victim  has  been  reduced 
to  catalepsis,  the  condition  of  trance  may  instantly  be  reproduced 
by  the  use  of  a  signal,  a  word,  a  bar  of  music.  Anything  suggested 
to  the  cataleptic  will  be  seen,  felt,  or  heard  with  all  the  vivid  detail 
which  the  subliminal  mind  bestows  upon  a  dream.  The  writer  has 
found  it  possible,  by  a  process  not  generally  known,  to  enable  the 
subject  to  remember  such  a  trance  as  an  actual  experience.  It 
is  also  possible  to  produce  a  kind  of  waking  trance  in  which  all 
that  is  suggested  is  seen,  and  remembered  later.  Hence,  probably, 
the  astonishing  success  of  Cagliostro,  who,  but  for  his  connection 
with  de  Rohan,  might  have  proceeded  from  triumph  to  triumph. 

130 


The  End  of  the  Old  Paris 

rituals,  Rosicrucian  elements  and  the  like,  was  still 
further  complicated  by  Cagliostro,  the  Grand 
Cophta  of  the  Egyptian  system,  his  own  contribu- 
tion to  the  "  craft."  Other  charlatans  followed  suit, 
and  Freemasonry  became  such  a  pasture  of  rascality 
that  the  Mot  de  Semestre  or  biennial  password 
was  introduced,  for  the  purpose  of  elimination. 
At  the  time  Garat  arrived  in  Paris  there  was  a 
rivalry  between  the  original  Grand  Lodge  of  France 
and  the  Grand  Orient.  Garat  became  an  initiate 
of  the  Lodge  of  the  Seven  Sisters,  so  called,  of 
course,  in  honour  of  the  Muses. 

What,  at  the  time  of  his  entry,  was  Freemasonry, 
and  what  its  appeal  ?  The  lodge  appears  to 
have  been  a  species  of  literary-musical-debating 
society ;  and  the  appeal,  very  probably,  lay  in 
the  fact  that  the  lodge  offered  a  greater  freedom, 
both  social  and  intellectual,  than  the  salon.  The 
movement  was  not  definitely  anti-Catholic ;  but 
the  Mason  was  not  only  free  from  the  society  and 
the  scrutiny  of  priests  ;  he  might  be  confident  that 
nothing  he  might  say  would  ever  be  repeated  to 
a  priest.  In  a  society  where  most  women  went 
to  confession  and  almost  every  social  assembly 
included  at  least  one  cleric,  this  was  no  small 
consideration.  Speculation  need  know  no  limits, 
need  fear  no  reprisals.  Moreover,  all  kinds  of 
social  restraints  and  complications  were  avoided  ; 
here  you  could  meet  the  enemy  of  your  patron, 
mistress,  wife,  or  mother,  although  his  or  her  salon 

131 


Pierre  Garat 

might  be  forbidden  ground  ;  here  you  encountered 
some  of  the  greatest  intellects  of  the  age  in  their 
happier  moments.  For  this  lodge  of  the  Seven 
Sisters  numbered  among  its  adepts  Voltaire, 
Lalande,  Franklin,  Helvetius,  Fontanes,  Vernet, 
Greuze,  Houdon,  Piccini,  and  many  another. 
Almost  every  lodge,  moreover,  had  its  orchestra  ; 
and  at  every  meeting  a  collection  was  taken  for 
charitable  purposes.  The  conscience,  the  ear,  the 
eye,  the  intellect — all  were  soothed  or  delighted. 
Poets  read  their  verses ;  members  played  in 
dialogues  ;  even  choral  music  was  attempted.  It 
was  a  mode  of  social  gathering  more  select,  more 
convenient,  more  stimulating  than  the  salon. 
Women  also  had  their  lodges,  and  were  present 
at  certain  meetings,  and  an  early  friend  of  Garat's, 
the  ill-fated  Princesse  de  Lamballe,  was  Grand 
Mistress  of  the  Scottish  lodges   in  France. 

With  all  the  "  sensibility  "  of  public  taste  and 
the  elegance  of  certain  seigneurs,  the  general 
standard  of  manners  would  seem  to  have  been 
less  perfect  than  survivors  of  the  Revolution,  look- 
ing back  to  an  age  when  all  things  were  beheld 
through  the  genial  eye  of  youth,  were  anxious  to 
believe. 

In  January,  1783,  a  few  days  before  Garat's 
first  appearance  at  Court,  a  curious  duel  took  place. 
A  set  of  verses  had  been  circulating  in  Paris, 
entitled  Les  Jeuncs-gcns  da  siecle,  which  gave  but 

132 


The  End  of  the  Old  Paris 

a  melancholy  account  of  the  manners  of  the  rising 
generation.  "  Beauties  who  flee  licence,"  they 
commence,  "  avoid  all  our  young  men  !  At  the 
sight  of  these  overgrown  children  Love  has  deserted 
France  ;  they  have  frightened  pleasure  away  ;  and 
their  sole  equipment  is  ignorance  and  nullity.  .  .  . 
Despite  their  fragile  appearance,  they  spend  all 
their  time  in  running  about ;  they  are  importu- 
nate in  town,  important  at  Court ;  ...  at  the  play 
they  look  sulky,  and  everywhere  stupidity  guides 
them  and  scorn  awaits  them.  .  .  .  They  are 
awkward  with  damsels,  indecent  with  women.  .  .  . 
All  their  hopes  are  founded  on  their  faces  and 
their  air  ;  they  put  all  the  taste  which  they  think 
is  theirs  into  their  clothing.  They  prefer  de- 
bauchery to  the  gentler  pleasures.  .  .  .  While 
they  degrade  youth,  are  they  to  pluck  its 
flowers  ?  " 

These  verses  sadly  hurt  the  feelings  of  one 
Chevalier  de  Roncherolles,  who  stated,  in  the  com- 
pany of  certain  officers  of  the  Guard,  that  the 
author  had  earned  a  thrashing.  The  friends  of 
the  author,  M.  de  Champcenets,  warned  him  of 
the  threat.  Thereupon  he  challenged  de  Ronche- 
rolles ;  they  fought,  and  were  both  wounded  ;  but 
two  days  later  the  poet  appeared  at  the  Opera 
"  covered  with  glory." 

These  were  golden  years  :  a  new  prosperity 
seemed   to   have   fallen   upon    the    Court;     M.    de 

133 


Pierre  Garat 

Calonne  scattered  gold  into  eager  hands,  and  the 
magic  purse  was  always  renewed. 

What  did  Paris  talk  of  during  these  years  ? 
Chief  of  scandals  was  the  affair  of  the  Diamond 
Necklace.  Of  de  Rohan,  therefore  ;  of  the  Queen  ; 
of  Cagliostro  ;  of  the  possibilities  of  aerial  naviga- 
tion ;  of  Montgolfier,  Blanchard,  Charles,  and 
Robert ;  of  the  respective  merits  of  hot  air  and 
of  hydrogen  ;  the  perfections  of  Todi  and  Mara, 
Gluck,  Piccini,  and  Mozart ;  the  plans  of  Necker, 
the  freaks  of  courtesans,  and  the  follies  of  the 
King's  brother.  Then,  as  at  length  the  rain  of 
gold  failed,  again  of  the  plans  of  M .  Necker  ;  and 
ever  and  again  as  the  end  drew  nigh  of  the  want 
of  money,  the  want  of  bread,  the  want  of  a  plan 
to  set  everything  right  and  to  please  everybody. 
There  was  talk,  too,  of  Liberty,  and  the  rights  of 
man  ;  for  men,  it  was  discovered,  were  equal  and 
really  virtuous,  but  had  sought  out  many  inven- 
tions. But  in  spite  of  later  beliefs  there  was  no 
talk  of  a  Republic. 

The  Diamond  Necklace  has  been  the  inspiration 
of  many  writers,  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  our 
singer.  Carlyle  has  dealt  with  Cagliostro.  It  is 
enough  to  say  that  in  this  summer  of  1786,  when 
Garat  at  last  left  Paris,  the  magician  was  reduced 
to  solitary  confinement  in  the  Bastille.  De  Rohan 
had  been  absolved  by  the  Parliament  of  Paris  ; 
the  popular  tongue  was  busy  embroidering  the 
famous  scandal  ;  and  the  golden  age  of  Calonne 
was  already  drawing  to  a  close. 

134 


A  Visit  Home 

It  was  then  that  Garat  paid  a  visit  to  Bordeaux  ; 
perhaps  pressed  by  creditors  (it  was  during  the 
next  year  that  the  Queen  first  paid  his  debts*), 
perhaps  in  need  of  repose,  perhaps  to  revive  his 
laurels  in  his  native  air,  perhaps  merely  anxious 
to  effect  a  reconciliation  with  his  father. 

He  had  left  Bordeaux  a  harum-scarum  prodigy, 
a  haunter  of  the  theatre,  an  Apollo  of  the  pro- 
menade. He  returned  an  accomplished  courtier, 
secretary  to  the  King's  brother,  and  the  first  singer 
in  France.  All  Bordeaux  knew  of  his  success,  and 
the  wealthy  port  was  eager  to  welcome  its 
brilliant   son. 

Not  so  Dominique  Garat.  The  prodigal  sought 
to  approach  him  personally ;  his  friends  inter- 
ceded ;  his  relations  endeavoured  to  soften  the 
unbending  parent  :    all  was  to  no  effect. 

A  happy  accident  intervened.  Beck,  our  hero's 
old  master,  despite  his  term  at  the  Opera,  was  in 
low  water  at  the  time  of  Garat's  visit.  His  friends 
and  pupils,  who  were  many,  and  some  who 
were  mindful  of  his  services  to  music  and  the 
city,  had  decided  to  promote  a  benefit  concert. 
Where  could  they  find  a  greater  attraction  than 
Garat  ? 

Garat  had  never  yet  appeared  upon  a  public 
platform,  for  the  Concerts  Spirltuels  were  scarcely 
in  the  category  of  public  entertainments.  To  do 
so,  even  for  a  kindly  purpose,  might  yet  further 

135 


Pierre  Garat 

alienate  his  father.  He  did  not  refuse  his  consent, 
but  made  it  conditional  upon  that  of  Dominique. 
The  reply  of  the  latter  was  characteristic.  "  Since 
his  son's  talents  had  cost  him  an  honourable  pro- 
fession, he  was  at  least  happy  that  they  should 
enable  him  to  perform  a  worthy  deed." 

The  concert  was  held  in  the  hall  of  the  Musee  : 
a  literary  and  artistic  society,  founded  in  1783, 
under  the  patronage  of  the  Queen  ;  supported  by 
all  the  lettered  lawyers  and  merchants  of  the  city.1 
His  father  was  a  member ;  so  was  his  uncle 
Laurent ;  his  younger  brother,  Maltia,  had  read 
papers  before  its  meetings,  and  on  one  occasion 
was  "  laureate." 

The  date  of  the  concert  was  September  the  8th. 
The  programme  does  not  bear  Garat's  name.  Here 
again  the  susceptibilities  of  the  father  were  spared ; 
possibly  those  of  Garat  himself  ;  the  name  of  Garat 
must  not  be  sullied  by  appearing  as  that  of  a 
public  entertainer.  But  it  was,  of  course,  an  open 
secret  that  Garat  was  to  sing. 

The  items  offered  by  the  programme  included 
a  chaconne ;  a  Gloria;  the  overture  to  Pandora,  an 

1  M.  Lafond  claims  that  Garat  used  to  sing  at  the  Musee  concerts 
before  leaving  Bordeaux  ;  also  that  he  appeared  beside  Punto,  Rode, 
Gervais,  and  Saint-Huberty.  The  Musee  was  founded  in  1783,  and 
Garat  left  Bordeaux  in  1782.  Moreover,  at  the  time  of  Garat's 
departure  Rode  was  only  eight  years  of  age.  If  he  did  appear 
in  such  company  and  at  the  Musee  it  may  have  been  on  the 
occasion  of  the  Beck  concert. 

136 


A  Visit  Home 

opera  by  Beck,  arranged  for  the  clavichord  and 
played  by  Storiac  ;  a  violin  concerto  by  Morani ; 
and  a  cantata. 

The  Roman  father  was  present  in  the  audience. 
Was  it  an  unwilling  pride  in  his  brilliant  son,  or 
curiosity,  or  affection  that  seduced  him  ;  or  merely 
his  duty,  on  a  charitable  occasion,  as  a  prominent 
Bordelais  and  a  member  of  the  Musee?  Perhaps 
he  was  so  sure  of  himself  that  he  did  not  choose 
to  believe  that  his  presence  was  likely  to  involve 
a  meeting. 

If  so,  he  was  deceived.  Garat  sang,  with  his 
usual  success,  his  usual  power  of  evoking  emotion  ; 
amid  the  applause  that  followed  the  father  opened 
his  arms  ;  the  son  rushed  into  them,  and  all  was 
forgotten . 

Garat  spent  some  pleasant  months  in  the  ancient 
port  ;  feasted  and  honoured  by  all  who  knew  him, 
courted  by  those  who  were  yet  strangers.  When 
Bordeaux  set  out  to  entertain  an  honoured  guest 
the  result  was  notable.  The  luxury  of  her  merchant 
princes  was  no  whit  behind  that  of  Paris  ;  if  the 
cut  of  their  coats  was  less  elegant  than  that  to 
be  seen  at  Versailles,  at  least  the  stuffs  were 
sumptuous,  the  colours  gay  ;  the  bearing  of  the 
wearers  was  stately  and  their  manners  genial. 
Money  was  plentiful  in  those  days  ;  the  trade  of 
Bordeaux  filled  a  deeper  purse  than  that  of  M.  de 
Calonne.  The  general  standard  of  living  was 
probably  more  solidly  generous  than  in  Paris  ;    the 

137 


Pierre  Garat 

meats  and  fruits  and  wines  more  varied,  the  display 
of  plate  and  linen  on  a  richer  scale. 

The  wide  shady  streets  of  the  city — even  the 
muddy,  breezy  river-frontage — must  have  been 
welcome  after  the  foul  narrow  streets  of  the 
capital,  where  even  the  public  promenades  were 
at  times  unbearable  with  dust  and  refuse.  The 
busy,  sturdy,  chattering  crowd  of  quay  and  market 
and  Chamber  of  Commerce  was  a  change  from 
the  sullen,  filthy,  half -troglodyte  populace  of  Paris, 
relieved  only  by  some  few  oases  of  brilliant  idlers. 
No  one  has  written  the  record  of  those  months, 
but  they  must  have  been  a  golden  memory.  We 
picture  him  the  centre  of  many  a  genial  dinner — 
in  the  stately  old  hotels  of  the  port,  or  the  pleasant 
country-houses  that  made  a  vast  garden  city  of 
suburbs — rising,  as  the  fruit  was  tasted,  and  the 
afternoon  breeze,  entering  the  shaded  rooms, 
fluttered  the  vine-leaves  on  the  silver  dishes, 
while  the  autumn  sun,  finding  entry  through  sun- 
blind  or  shutter,  barred  silken  coat  and  powdered 
cheek  and  golden  fruit  with  splashes  of  molten 
silver-golden  radiance ;  enchanting  the  solid 
merchants,  sturdy  sea-captains  and  stately  lawyers, 
and  their  grey-headed,  rosy-faced,  perfumed  ladies, 
with  the  melody  of  Orfeo  or  Artnide,  or  perhaps 
of  Le  Nozze  di  Figaro. 

He  must  have  sung  too  at  those  water-parties, 
whose  gaily-decked  barges  swept  swiftly  up  the 
broad  reaches  of  the  Garonne,  between  the  noble 

138 


A  Visit  Home 

woodlands,  tawny  now  with  autumn,  and  the  white 
villages,  with  their  belfried  churches  so  soon  to 
be  silent,  their  naves  desolate  and  defiled  by  the 
rains  and  the  rotting  of  leaves  ;  landing  at  some 
pleasant  villa  and  feasting  deliciously  beneath 
some  grape-laden  pergola  ;  the  scarlet  leaves  and 
tendrils,  the  pendent  bloom-laden  grapes,  translu- 
cent like  jewels  in  the  sun,  casting  their  cool 
shadows,  touched  with  a  bluish  bloom  like  that 
of  the  luscious  fruit,  over  snowy  marble  and  flower- 
bright  silks. 

Had  the  courtly  scholars  of  Bordeaux  set  aside 
their  Horace  and  Virgil  and  Catullus  for  Diderot, 
Mably,  Rousseau,  Voltaire  ?  Did  they  speak  less 
of  the  rights  of  Parliament  and  more  of  the  rights 
of  man  ?  Had  the  goddess  Liberty,  whose  face,  had 
the  mask  but  fallen,  was  that  of  Ate,  already  her 
votaries  in  the  busy  Southern  capital  ?  Perhaps  ; 
there  was  even  a  sense,  it  may  be,  that  the  years 
were  ripe  for  change,  that  the  end  of  a  period  was 
near,  that  the  future  was  big  with  Fate  ;  but  none 
saw  Liberty  turned  Licence,  red  of  hand  as  of 
cap,  shrieking  through  the  blighted  streets,  her 
breath  foul  with  human  carrion  and  her  eyes  insane 
with  the  lust  of  brute  revenge. 


139 


CHAPTER   VII 
THE   REVOLUTION 

The  end  of  the  old  world — -The  Revolution — -How  Jacobins  were 
made — Garat  rejects  the  new  ideas — How  different  spectators 
saw  different  aspects  of  the  Revolution  :  Morris  ;  Mme.  Le 
Brun;  Mme.  Junot — The  Assembly  weakens— Mob  rule — 
The  alteration  in  manners — The  Terror — Paris  unsafe — Garat 
is  left  penniless — He  sings  for  a  living — Why  he  was  not  a 
Jacobin — The  effect  of  his  training  on  his  character — Life 
in  Paris  during  the  Revolution — Garat  in  the  salons — The 
tragedy  of  Mme.  de  Sainte-Amaranthe — Mme.  de  Beauharnais. 

This  is  a  history  not  of  the  Revolution  but  of 
Garat ;  yet  the  Revolution  was  in  one  sense  the 
crisis  of  his  life ;  it  involved  his  friends,  and 
reduced  him  to  the  status  of  a  public  artist.  If 
our  record  of  his  life  during  this  period  are  some- 
what meagre,  we  can  at  least  watch  the  crumbling 
of  his  social  world,  mark  the  fate  of  his  friends, 
and  ask  what  aspect  of  the  years  of  anarchy  was 
to  him  most  prominent. 

>We  left  him  returned  from  Bordeaux,  reconciled 
with  his  father,  apparently  established  for  life.  The 
next  three  years  of  his  life  were  happy,  and  had 
no  history.  One  thing  we  know  :  that  he  developed 
not    only    as    a    singer,     but    as    a    dandy  ;      that 

140 


The  Revolution 

increasing  magnificence  of  dress  twice  resulted  in 
a  financial  impasse,  and  on  both  occasions  it  was 
the  Queen  who  paid  his  debts.  He  was  as  much 
as  ever  at  Versailles  ;  the  approaching  crisis  made 
no  difference  to  the  amusements  of  the  Court. 

In  the  summer  of  1789  both  his  father  and  his 
uncle  were  deputies  of  the  Third  Estate.  The 
Girondists  were  mostly  sons  of  a  prosperous  town, 
where  life  was  easy  and  wealth  general.  To  them 
the  tales  of  downtrodden,  starving  peasants,  of 
feudal  and  fiscal  tyranny,  of  human  beings  fed 
on  bark  and  grass  and  nettles,  were  as  tales  of 
a  Highland  famine  to  an  alderman  of  London. 
The  iron  had  not  entered  their  souls.  Their  careers 
were  not  blocked  by  privileged  and  incompetent 
nobles.  To  them  the  Revolution  was  a  matter  of 
financial  and  constitutional  reform.  Between  them 
and  the  deputies  of  the  famine-stricken  regions, 
where  smuggling  or  brigandage  were  the  only 
alternatives  to  starvation,  a  psychological  gulf  was 
fixed,  as  between  them  and  the  demagogue-deputies 
of  districts  aroused  by  the  preaching  of  the  Jacobin 
ideology. 

Garat,  the  son  and  nephew  of  such  men,  familiar 
from  childhood  with  the  prominent  Girondists,  a 
member  of  that  world  of  courtiers  whose  "  sensi- 
bility "  and  humanitarianism  were,  in  a  way,  the 
determining  cause  of  the  catastrophe  of  the  Revolu- 
tion,  would  have  been  one  of  the  first  to  accept 

141 


Pierre  Garat 

the  new  hopes,  the  new  beliefs  :  that  a  happier 
day  was  to  dawn  upon  France,  a  reign  of  justice, 
ease,  and  efficiency  in  place  of  corruption,  waste, 
and  famine  ;  one  of  the  first  also  to  realize  the 
terrible  mistake  which  the  leaders  of  the  Revolution 
had  made. 

The  difference  between  anarchy  and  revolution  is 
that  the  latter  is  organized  and  constructive,  the 
former  is  unorganized  or  destructive.  Anarchy  in 
France  was  at  last  organized,  and  was  tenfold  the 
bloodier  for  that ;  but  the  Revolution  fell  to  pieces. 
If  a  despot  needs  to  use  the  iron  hand,  still  more 
do  the  leaders  of  a  revolt. 

But  the  King's  army,  as  Necker  told  him  in 
1789,  could  not  be  counted  on  to  oppose  the 
people.  The  Third  Estate  believed  themselves  the 
leaders  of  the  people,  and  could  not  imagine  the 
necessity  of  opposing  them.  The  people  them- 
selves were  the  first  to  possess  an  adequate  armed 
force.  Poor  Lafayette,  the  idealist,  recruited  a 
citizen  guard,  which  promptly  became  one  of  the 
worst   instruments   of   anarchy. 

The  Revolution  started  with  the  touching 
assumption  that  man  is  by  nature  virtuous,  and 
is  corrupted  only  by  bad  institutions.  In  the 
process  of  changing  institutions  it  proved  what 
might  have  been  foretold — what  thoughtful  spec- 
tators did  foretell — that  uncultivated  men  deprived 
of  the  restraints  which  make  collective  life  possible 
revert  to  ancestral,  perhaps  to  pre-human,  savagery. 

142 


The  Revolution 

In  the  case  of  the  French  populace  the  means 
of  restraint  had  for  centuries  been  what  is  broadly 
called  the  police  of  the  nation.  In  the  case  of  the 
bourgeoisie  it  was  public  opinion.  The  police  of 
the  nation  crumbled  at  a  touch,  and  the  peasant 
was  left,  having  no  personal  religion  nor  breeding 
nor  philosophy,  and  therefore  no  personal  restraint, 
a  cruel,  acquisitive,  unbridled  savage.  Once  his 
anger  was  excited  by  a  few  windy  lies  repeated 
until,  by  a  process  of  hypnotic  suggestion,  they 
were  to  him  as  true  as  the  teachings  of  religion, 
once  he  realized  that  he  could  avenge  himself  in 
perfect  safety  for  years  of  poverty  and  ill-treat- 
ment, for  his  own  uncouthness  and  ignorance,  only 
one  conclusion  was  possible. 

In  the  case  of  the  bourgeois  leaders  of  the 
populace,  many  had  personal  beliefs  or  restraints. 
But  for  others,  especially  those  who  had  the  grudge 
of  the  unsuccessful  man  against  the  world,  or  the 
hatred  of  the  unfortunate  man  for  the  cruelty  of 
the  world,  or  who  entertained  personal  hatreds, 
the  sudden  removal  of  the  restraint  of  public 
opinion  was  too  dangerous  a  release  ;  the  pressure 
within  was  too  great.  Such  men  have  no  private 
standards  :  they  are  ruled  by  the  public  conscience. 
The  unsuccessful  man  is  fond  of  surrounding  him- 
self by  his  inferiors,  for  these  give  him  the  admira- 
tion his  superiors  refuse.  The  ideology  of  the 
unsuccessful  Jacobin  filtered  through  to  the  dregs 
of  society,  and  returned  to  him  as  approval  of  his 

143 


Pierre  Garat 

vilest  deeds.  No  one  was  above  him,  for  such 
power  as  existed  was  at  his  disposal.  A  violent 
man  could  readily  obtain  a  following.  When  those 
above  him  were  infected  also,  and  ordered  him, 
in  the  name  of  patriotism  and  civic  virtue,  to 
commit  the  very  crimes  that  tempted  him,  it  became 
an  act  of  religion  to  kill,  to  steal,  to  betray. 

We  do  not  know  precisely  when  Garat  abandoned 
hope,  and  saw  the  Revolution  as  it  was.  We  may 
suppose  that  it  was  before  the  end  of  1789.  By 
that  time  the  Terror  was  abroad  in  the  provinces, 
and  the  emigration  had  set  in  ;  the  Assembly  was 
proved  impotent  and  craven  ;  the  mob  was  already 
supreme. 

This,  however,  is  a  matter  of  speculation.  It  is 
curious  to  see  how  differently  the  Revolution 
appeared,  in  its  early  days,  to  different  observers. 
Gouverneur  Morris,  arriving  in  Paris  in  January, 
1789,  was  struck  chiefly  by  the  corruption  of 
society.  But  in  April  he  perceived  that  there  might 
be  "warm  work."  "The  revolution  is  a  strange 
one  ;  the  few  people  who  set  it  in  movement  look 
with  astonishment  at  their  own  work." 

He  reminds  us  continually  that  Paris  was  a  large 
city.  The  crimes  and  follies  that  crowd  a  page  of 
history  were  distributed  over  a  wide  expanse  of 
space  and  duration.  Consider  the  entry  for  the  day 
of  the  Reveillon  riot  :  "  There  is,  it  seems,  a  riot 
in  Paris  and  the  troops  are  at   work  somewhere. 

144 


The  Revolution 

...  I  believe  it  is  very  trifling."  And  two  days 
later  :  "  We  have  had  a  little  riot  yesterday,  and 
the  day  before,  and  I  am  told  that  some  have  been 
killed,  but  the  affair  was  so  distant  .  .  .  that  I 
know  nothing."  So  a  Hampstead  scholar  might 
write  of  a  riot  in  Lambeth  if  the  telegraph  wires 
by  some  accident   were   destroyed. 

By  July  he  already  foresaw  something  of  what 
was  to  pass.  "The  soldiery  .  .  .  will  not  act 
against  the  people.  They  are  treated  by  the  nobles, 
and  parade  about  the  streets  huzzaing  for  the  Tiers . 
*  Liberte  '  is  now  the  general  cry,  and  '  Autorite  ' 
is  a  name,  not  a  real  existence.  .  .  .  The  sword 
has  slipped  out  of  the  monarch's  hand.  .  .  .  These 
things  in  a  nation  not  yet  fitted  for  the  enjoyment 
of  freedom  .  .  .  give  me  frequently  suspicions 
that  they  will  greatly  overshoot  their  mark.  .  .  . 
The  disorders  to  be  apprehended  from  anarchy 
make  as  yet  no  impression." 

They  did  on  some.  Catherine  of  Russia  fore- 
saw the  end.  "When  will  Caesar  come?  For  he 
will  come,  be  sure  !  "  And  at  home  little  Mme. 
Le  Brun,  the  sensitive,  quick-witted  boargeoise  and 
artist,  had  a  keener  eye  to  the  populace  than  the 
dignified  Morris,  and  a  greater  fear  of  them.  She 
begins  in  a  very  different  tone  :  "  The  horrible 
year  1789  commenced,  and  already  terror  was 
seizing  upon  all  wise  minds."  One  evening  she 
was  giving  a  concert — one  of  those  at  which  Garat 
used  to  sing — and  her  guests  arrived  in  a  state  of 

145  k 


Pierre  Garat 

consternation.  They  had  been  that  morning  at 
Longchamps,  and  "  the  populace,  gathered  at  the 
barrier  .  .  .  had  insulted  those  who  went  by  in 
carriages  in  the  most  terrifying  manner  ;  wretched 
creatures  leaped  upon  the  steps  of  the  carriages, 
shouting :  '  Next  year  you  will  be  behind  your 
carriages  and  we  shall  be  inside  !  '  " — an  interest- 
ing sidelight  on  the  popular  interpretation  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  that  much-misunder- 
stood document. 

"  As  for  me,"  says  Mme.  Le  Brun,  "  I  had  little 
need  to  learn  fresh  details  to  foresee  the  horrors 
that  were  preparing.  I  know  beyond  doubt  that 
my  house  .  .  .  was  marked  by  malefactors. 
Sulphur  was  thrown  into  our  cellars  through  the 
chutes.  If  I  showed  myself  at  my  window  filthy 
sans-culottes  would  threaten  me  with  their  fists  ;  a 
thousand  sinister  rumours  reached  me  from  every 
side  ;  at  last  I  lived  in  a  continual  state  of  pro- 
found anxiety  and  distress.  My  health  altered 
sensibly.  .  .  .  What  was  the  use  of  living?  The 
terror  with  which  the  future  inspired  me  disgusted 
me  with  life  ;  and  yet  I  divined  only  a  portion  of 
the  crimes  which  were  committed  later.  ...  I 
had  so  changed  that  .  .  .  my  mother  recognized 
me  only  by  my  voice." 

Poor  little  lady  1  Her  manners  were  of  the 
simplest ;  she  had  rarely  a  franc  to  bless  herself 
with ;  first  her  stepfather  and  then  her  husband 
appropriating  her  very  large  earnings.    Fabulous 

146 


The  Revolution 

rumours  of  these  earnings  and  of  the  suppers  at 
which  Garat  sang  reached  the  ears  of  the  "  section." 
She  was  about  to  escape  to  Italy  when  her  salon 
was  entered  "  by  a  vast  crowd  of  national  guards 
with  their  muskets.  Most  of  them  were  drunk, 
ill-clad,  with  frightful  faces.  .  .  .  Scarcely  listen- 
ing to  me,  they  replied,  '  You  will  not  leave, 
citoyenne,  you  will  not  leave.'  ...  I  was  left  in 
a  cruel  anxiety,  when  I  saw  two  re-enter,  who 
did  not  terrify  me.  .  .  .  '  Madame,'  said  one,  '  we 
are  your  neighbours  ;  we  come  to  advise  you  to 
go,  and  as  soon  as  possible.  You  could  not  live 
here ;  you  are  so  changed  that  we  are  dis- 
tressed.' " 

How  often  were  similar  scenes  enacted  during 
the  following  years  !  The  sudden  irruption  of 
drunken  ruffians,  who  had  been  meditating  the  day's 
coups  at  the  "  section  "  or  the  Jacobins  ;  the  timid 
benevolent  neighbours,  joining  the  party  from  fear, 
yet  courageous  enough,  on  how  many  occasions, 
to  give  help  or  advice  at  the  risk  of  life  ! 

Mme.  Junot  is  equally  emphatic  as  to  the  horror 
of  those  days.  "  We  had  no  childhood,  no  youth. 
.  .  .  Hardly  had  my  young  mind  developed  when 
I  had  to  apply  it  wholly  to  watching  every  word 
and  gesture  ;  for  who  could  then  feel  safe  from1 
the  results  of  the  slightest  investigation?"  Even 
games  were  dangerous  ;  her  father  was  once  on 
the  point  of  arrest  because,  in  playing  with  a  child, 
his  daughter  had  cried,  according  to  the  rules  of 

147 


Pierre  Garat 

their     game :      "  Thou     shalt     be     Monsieur     the 
Dauphin  !  " 

Garat  must  have  heard  from  his  uncle  how  early 
the  Assembly  was  degraded.  In  October,  1789, 
when  it  had  sat  but  two  months,  Montgolfier,  the 
famous  aeronaut,  was  writing :  "  One  dare  no 
longer  hope  anything  from  a  captive  king  and  an 
Assembly  forced  to  direct  its  proceedings  according 
to  the  opinion  of  the  vilest  of  the  populace."  "  An 
Assembly  of  cowards,"  in  the  eyes  of  Mme.  Roland. 
"  Every  member,"  said  Thibaudeau,  who  voted  for 
the  death  of  Louis,  "  regulates  his  behaviour  and 
chooses  his  words  in  the  dread  that  they  will  be 
imputed  to  him  as  a  crime."  The  reports  of  the 
sessions  had  to  be  carefully  falsified  for  public) 
consumption  :  for  the  credit  of  the  Assembly  and 
the  safety  of  the  reporter. 

Meanwhile  manners  had  altered,  not  for  the 
better;  had  become  "republican."  Dress  also 
reflected  the  chaos  of  politics.  The  long-skirted 
coat  gave  way  to  the  English  coat ;  breeches  to 
pantaloons ;  silk  stockings  to  high  boots ;  the 
three-cornered  hat  to  the  round  hat ;  powder  was 
abandoned  by  many,  and  the  hair  hung  loose  above 
the  shoulders.  In  the  salons  the  talk  was  all  of 
politics.  But  Garat,  the  exquisite,  pursued  his 
way  unmoved.  Not  for  him  these  graceless  innova- 
tions ;  nor  did  he  at  a  later  date,  when  the  coach- 
man's   coat,   the   carmagnole,   the    baize   breeches, 

148 


The  Revolution 

and  the  cap  of  Liberty  were  a  passport  and  a  safe- 
guard, ever  deviate  from  the  strict  elegance  of  the 
fashions  of  the  anclen  regime. 

Usually  we  speak  of  the  Terror  as  commencing 
in  1793.  In  actual  fact  it  began,  in  the  provinces, 
as  early  as  August,   1789. 

From  that  date  there  was  no  security  of  life 
or  property  in  France.  Here  and  there  at  first,  as 
isolated  instances  of  vengeance,  and  later  as  an 
organized  system  of  brigandage,  a  vast  business 
coup,  the  peasants  of  France  began  to  burn  and 
pillage  chateaux,  to  hunt,  kill,  and  torture  nobles 
and  their  wives,  and  to  kill  or  enslave  their  children. 
The  armed  forces  that  should  have  kept  order  too 
often  led  the  people. 

The  nobles  renounced  their  feudal  privileges  too 
late.  For  years  the  peasants  had  heard  talk  of 
the  rights  of  man,  of  brotherhood,  equality,  and 
liberty.  Now  they,  the  people,  were  more  than 
the  equals  of  the  aristocrat;  they  were  sovereign. 
Their  turn  had  come .  The  aristocrat  who  remained 
in  France  was  killed.  The  aristocrat  who  left 
France  was  outlawed.  In  either  case  his  property 
became  the  nation's.  Enterprising  Jacobins  made 
immense  fortunes  by  hunting  out  valuable 
properties,  informing  upon  or  killing  the  owners, 
and  acquiring  the  property  from  the  State  ;  some- 
times paying  a  trifle  for  it,  sometimes  not  paying  at 
all.      No  man  who   held   property  was   safe.      No 

149 


Pierre  Garat 

man  whose  clothing  or  skin  or  speech  was  clean 
was  safe.  The  informer  was  everywhere.  The 
Revolution  became  a  vast  business  operation,  a 
licensed  brigandage. 

No  man  could  count  upon  any  help  but  his  own. 
As  a  result  the  nobles  left  France  in  their 
thousands.  Those  who  had  the  courage  to  remain, 
in  order  to  save  their  estates,  were  cast  into  prison 
and  guillotined.  France  reaped  the  result  of  cen- 
turies of  carelessness  and  oppression.  The  Revolu- 
tion became  an  orgy  of  vindictive  envy,  unleashed 
avarice,   insensate   vengeance. 

Paris,  too,  became  unsafe  at  last,  and  as  the 
nobles  departed  the  salons  of  the  city  closed.  Still, 
in  Republican  circles,  the  change  was  not  so  notice- 
able to  the  ordinary  member  of  society.  Morris 
was  able  to  live  much  as  usual  until  late  in  1792. 
To  a  certain  extent  it  was  so  with  Garat.  The 
Court  was  gone  ;  many  of  the  aristocratic  hostesses 
of  Paris  had  left  the  country  ;  but  the  Girondist 
faction  were  in  power,  and  the  salons  of  the 
Republican  hostesses  were  never  more  brilliant. 

But  with  the  emigration  a  great  change  had 
come  upon  his  life.  When  d'Artois  fled  the  country 
his  pensions  ceased.  He  was  left,  without  a  pro- 
fession, to  face  the  world. 

For  a  time,  in  spite  of  the  seriousness  of  such 
a  step,  the  stage  must  have  seemed  the  probable 
solution  of  the  problem.      Martin,  his  friend,  who 

150 


The  Revolution 

at  this  time  helped  him,  urged  the  theatrical  career. 
But  for  the  darling  of  the  Court,  the  arbiter  of 
musical  taste,  the  professor  of  exquisite  dress,  to 
become  an  outlaw,  forbidden  marriage  or  burial, 
liable  at  any  moment  to  summary  imprisonment, 
was,  after  all,  unthinkable.  A  dwindling  society 
sought  distraction  feverishly  in  concerts  and  social 
functions.     Garat  became  a  paid  singer. 

It  was  a  successful  move.  Thousands  who  had 
never  been  so  fortunate  as  to  hear  him,  save  by 
chance  of  an  evening  under  the  trees  of  the  Palais- 
Royal,  might  purchase  the  privilege  now. 
Hostesses  were  still  delighted  to  ensure  the 
success  of  their  entertainments  by  contriving  his 
presence.  Some  of  the  houses  he  frequented  were 
open  when  he  left  Paris  ;  at  others  the  company 
grew  always  less,  and  there  were  intervals  of  dread- 
ful silence,  when  the  muffled  roar  of  an  approaching 
crowd,  the  beating  of  a  drum,  or  the  rhythmic 
thud  of  a  party  of  national  guards  was  heard  from 
the  world  without.  People  sat  with  drawn  faces, 
avoiding  each  other's  eyes,  until  the  danger  had 
passed. 

Some  might  have  expected  Garat,  the  Bordelais, 
the  nephew  of  Dominique -Joseph,  to  have  become 
the  minstrel  of  the  Revolution.  But  even  had  his 
gratitude  and  affection  towards  his  early  patrons 
been  less,  even  had  his  common  sense  been  feebler, 
there  were  factors  in  his  psychology  which  would 

151 


Pierre  Garat 

save  him  at  once  from  being  a  Jacobin,  and  from 
suffering  as  did  some  from  the  terrors  of  the  period. 
These  factors  were  the  result  of  his  long  self- 
imposed  training. 

Morally  this  training  had  its  dangers,  but  it 
also  had  its  advantages.  It  made  him  intensely 
aware,  as  only  a  woman  is  as  a  rule  aware,  of  him- 
self, as  a  person,  as  a  body,  as  a  mechanism ; 
intensely  a  lover  of  himself,  so  that  when  he  aged 
it  was  the  ageing  of  a  lover  that  he  mourned. 
And  if  his  self-consciousness  was  intensely 
developed,  so  also  was  his  sub-consciousness  :  for 
the  musical  executant  labours  always  to  increase 
the  sensibility  of  the  subliminal  self  ;  its  response 
to  the  evocation  of  feeling,  in  the  shape  of 
a  prompt  excitation  of  and  a  half-instinctive 
expression  of  emotion.  A  man  with  a  natural 
voice  or  a  quick  intelligence  may  sing  a  song 
beautifully  or  act  a  part  well  now  and  again  by 
dint  of  emotional  inspiration  or  by  sheer  force  of 
intellect ;  but  if  he  is  to  sing  or  act  well  always, 
when  tired  or  dispirited  or  uninspired,  his  sub- 
conscious self  must  be  his  eager  colleague,  must 
respond  to  the  slightest  call,  must  do  what  he  is 
too  dull  or  too  weary  to  do  ;  and  the  object  of 
his  training  is  to  educate  that  unconscious  colleague 
to  the  desired  perfection  of  unfailing  response. 
But  he  too— and  this  is  of  greater  significance — 
must  be  quick  to  respond  to  its  promptings.  For 
this    reason,    doubtless,    musicians    are    peculiarly 

152 


The  Revolution 

subject  to  impulse,  and  unable  or  unwilling  to 
check  impulse.  In  an  age  when  temptation  was 
regarded  as  opportunity  there  was  danger  here  to 
a  man  who,  in  losing  the  old  inhibitions,  the  old 
standards,  had  achieved  no  new  faith,  no  new  sanc- 
tion or  inhibition  ;  danger,  because  the  unbridled 
woman  is  always  the  inferior  of  the  unbridled  man. 
Moral  in  any  Puritan  sense  Garat's  life  could  hardly 
be,  his  age  and  his  nation  being  what  they  were. 
Moral  in  a  wider  sense  we  may  believe  that  he 
was  ;  he  had  loyalty,  and  the  courage  of  loyalty, 
and  in  spite  of  affectation  and  a  certain  polished 
insolence  he  found  no  real  enemies,  even  after 
his  death  ;  and  there  must  have  been,  behind  his 
insolence,  a  genuine  superiority,  for  the  occasions 
in  his  life  when  he  was  made  to  look  foolish  were 
singularly  few.  He  seems  to  have  had  beneath 
his  fantastic  mask  a  native  sweetness  of 
disposition  ;  undoubtedly  he  had  that  so-called 
animal  magnetism,  which  so  often  comes  of  a 
sound,  virile  organism  and  an  intense  awareness 
of  self  and  the  passing  moment. 

But  there  was  safety,  too,  in  this  awareness ; 
safety  in  his  insolence,  his  egoism,  his  affectation 
of  the  mannered  exquisite  ;  safety  more  especially 
in  the  result  of  his  long  self -schooling — his  intense 
response  to  emotion  in  art,  his  intense  power  of 
expressing  emotion.  Art  was  both  a  call  upon 
emotion  and  an  outlet  for  emotion,  and  the  call 
and  expenditure  were  intense.  He  aged  early; 
there  is  the  proof. 

153 


Pierre  Garat 

Here,  apart  from  loyalty,  common  sense,  and 
the  loss  of  beauty,  is  another  reason  why  he  was 
no  Jacobin,  but  rather  what  in  those  days  was 
reckoned  a  reactionary.  We  have  seen  that  his 
youth  had  witnessed  no  flagrant  injustice,  no  dis- 
heartening ugliness,  no  appalling  welter  of  waste 
and  suffering,  such  as  men  saw  in  other  parts  of 
France  ;  he  had  passed  it  in  a  genial,  interested 
world,  where  the  new  ideas  assumed  no  demagogic 
flavour.  The  mob,  as  he  was  to  see  it  in  Paris, 
could  only  shock,  disgust,  or  terrify. 

He  had  not  the  makings  of  a  Jacobin  because 
Jacobinism  was  a  release  of  suppressed  emotion, 
and  Garat  had  already  such  a  release,  perfected, 
since  infancy,  by  years  of  training,  until  all  its 
channels  were  deeply  scoured,  with  a  capacity  equal 
to  all  demands.  This  fact,  and  his  necessary 
egoism,  explain  why  he  was  always  more  beloved 
than  lover  ;  it  was  this  fact  also  that  saved  him 
wholly  from  the  madness  of  the  age.  The  Jacobin, 
a  suppressed,  unpractised  emotionalist — suppressed 
by  asceticism,  or  respectability,  or  high  position, 
or  sheer  lack  of  culture — was  suddenly  confronted 
with  a  new  ideology.  His  every  nerve  thrilled 
by  the  injustice  and  imperfection  of  human  society, 
afloat  on  the  full  tide  of  humanistic  ideology,  he 
was  so  blunt  of  perception,  or  so  over-familiar 
with  the  unquestioned  presence  of  the  mob,  as 
to  be  blind  to  its  true  nature  or  deluded  by  its 
cheaply-won    watchwords;     or,    if    keen    of   sense, 

*54 


The    Revolution 

so  fired  by  pity  and  hatred  of  its  ugliness  as  to 
see  only  the  injustice  of  its  defects ;  in  either 
case  he  was  religiously  convinced  of  the  value 
of  institutions,  and  attributed  to  the  great  unwashed 
the  noble  and  generous  intellectual  passion  for  the 
finer  things  of  life  that  swept  him  headlong  down 
his  own  course.  The  mob  was  his  idol,  which  he 
remade  in  his  own  image,  and  called  it  God.  He 
did  not  say  :  Let  there  be  no  base  people  ;  let 
us  see  that  the  future  does  not  breed  them.  He 
said  :  None  are  base,  except  by  an  unjust  law. 
Garat,  provided  already  with  an  outlet  for  his 
emotions,  was  not  to  be  so  trapped.  Aware  of 
himself  before  others,  a  lover  of  beauty,  a  hater 
of  the  unseemly,  with  no  preconceived  ideas  of 
reform,  he  might  well  accept  the  new  ideas  in 
so  far  as  they  promised  a  wider  career  to  ability 
and  a  lessening  of  insensate  privilege.;  but  once 
the  mob  was  in  full  control,  once  Paris  and  the 
Jacobins  *  were  strangling  or  hypnotizing  France, 
he  could  only  regard  the  Revolution  with  hatred, 
fear,  and  regret.  More  :  he  probably  did  his  best 
to  regard  it  as  little  and  as  seldom  as  possible. 
And  here  his  art  and  his  egoism  came  again  to 
the  rescue.  What  mental  and  physical  havoc  the 
horrors  of  the  Terror  worked  in  some  sensitive 
natures  we  have  already  seen.  Yet  others  lived 
through   that    period   unmoved,    untouched,    dying 

1  I  use  the  word  Jacobins  in  a  somewhat  general  sense ;  actually 
the  Cordeliers  were,  in  Paris,  the  more  violent. 

155 


Pierre  Garat 

afterwards  of  sheer  old  age  :  a  sure  sign  that  they 
had  never  been  mentally  and  physically  stricken. 
Others — apparently  genial  and  harmless  persons — 
massacred  their  thousands  as  they  toyed  with  their 
lunch  or  took  their  snuff. 

The  explanation  of  much  that  puzzles  is  that  in 
times  of  warfare,  revolt,  famine,  or  cosmic  disaster 
the  human  organism  makes  itself  a  defence,  a  kind 
of  spiritual  armour.  It  may  be  religion;  it  may 
be  a  political  creed,  which  is  indeed  a  religion  ; 
it  may  be  the  love  of  noble  things,  or  a  hatred  of 
the  ignoble  ;  it  may  be  a  drain  upon  the  emotion 
that    leaves    no    response    to    further    appeals. 

With  Garat  his  art  was  an  answer  to  his 
emotional  needs.  Further  calls  upon  his  emotion 
were  superfluous,  and  therefore,  by  the  simple  laws 
of  psychology,  painful.  He  was  an  egoist ;  he 
shrank  from  the  painful.  You  may  imagine  him, 
therefore,  endowed  with  a  voluntary  blindness  and 
deafness  ;  a  power  of  intentional  inhibition  ;  the 
ability  to  say  to  himself  :  This  I  will  not  see,  or 
I  will  forget  it  ;  or  if  I  must  see  and  remember,  it 
shall  not  affect  me ;  it  is  nothing ;  it  has  no 
meaning. 

The  attitude  is  ignoble  only  if  the  desire  to  live, 
the  desire  to  preserve  self,  is  ignoble.  To  him, 
considering  what  years  he  was  to  live  through, 
it  was  at  least  useful  ;  and  it  was,  with  his  glorious 
voice,  the  outcome  of  those  years  of  self -schooling 
in  his  father's  house. 

156 


The  Revolution 

Such  an  attitude,  moreover,  was  not  so  difficult 
to  support  as  may  at  first  appear.  Apart  from 
the  Palais -Royal,  the  route  of  the  tumbrils,  the 
Faubourg  Saint-Antoine,  and  such  localities,  the 
life  of  the  city  was  outwardly  much  as  usual. 
Organized  crime  is  gregarious  ;  only  now  and  again 
did  some  drunken  mob  of  furies,  figures  of  a  night- 
mare, the  dregs  of  a  thousand  years  of  misgovern- 
ment,  sweep  howling  into  the  quiet  backwaters 
of  the  city.  We  picture  France  during  the  Terror 
and  the  years  of  rapine  that  preceded  it  as  one  vast 
inferno,  where  a  cultured  accent,  a  collected  gait, 
clean  linen  or  a  clean  skin  might  bring  instant  death 
by  torture.  Yet  the  truth  is  that  Paris  was  so 
large,  and  the  Jacobins  of  purest  water  so  few, 
that  they  could  not  attend  to  the  whole  city.  Taine 
estimated  their  numbers  in  Paris  as  only  5,000 
among  a  total  population  of  700,000. 

From  1789  to  1792  Gouverneur  Morris — a 
foreigner,  it  is  true,  and  for  a  time  accredited 
representative  of  a  foreign  republic — was  able  to 
live  in  Paris  much  the  life  that  would  have  been 
his  in  any  capital  of  Europe.  Once  a  mob  pursued 
his  carriage,  at  a  time  when  the  possession  of  a 
carriage  merited  death  ;  but  he  thrust  his  wooden 
leg  out  of  the  door.  "  Lost,"  he  said,  "  in  the 
defence  of  American  liberty  !  "  It  was  an  imagina- 
tive statement,  but  it  saved  his  life. 

For  the  rest,  we  are  surprised,  in  reading  his 
cool,  shrewd  record,  to  find  how  little  he  saw  of 

i57 


Pierre  Garat 

actual  violence ;  how  little  the  actual  material 
horrors  of  the  time  impressed  him.  And  indeed, 
if  he  avoided  certain  quarters  of  the  city,  a  man 
might  have  lived  through  the  whole  Revolution 
without  incurring  danger  or  beholding  violence. 
The  case  is  unlikely,  yet  such  cases  there  must 
have  been. 

Garat,  however,  was  to  some  extent  behind  the 
scenes.  A  courtier  himself,  the  murders  of  aristo- 
crats in  the  provinces  must  have  reached  his  ears, 
as  remote  happenings  indeed,  as  a  murder  in 
Chester  would  seem  to  a  Londoner.  The  murders 
in  the  streets  of  Paris  were  common  knowledge  ; 
but  Raris  was  a  great  city.  He  must  have  known, 
too,  precisely  what  the  show  of  government  by 
Assembly  was  worth.  His  uncle  was  not  only 
a  member,  but  a  journalist :  a  journalist  who  dared 
not  tell  the  truth.  All  reports  were  expurgated 
for  the  benefit  of  the  public  :  more  still  for  the 
safety  of  the  reporter.  "  Of  what  was  merely  a 
riot,"  said  Joseph  Garat,  "  I  used  to  make  a 
coherent  picture  ;  of  their  shrieks  I  made  observa- 
tions ;  of  their  furious  gestures,  attitudes ;  and 
when  I  could  not  inspire  esteem  I  tried  to  convey 
emotions."  We  may  suppose  that  the  nephew  knew 
the  truth  ;  though  it  is  doubtful  whether,  in  those 
days,  the  worthy  Dominique-Joseph,  who  was  cer- 
tainly something  of  a  time-server,  was  particularly 
anxious  for  the  company  of  his  reactionary  and 
impenitent  nephew. 

158 


The  Revolution 

By  dint  of  discretion  and  the  action  of  his 
peculiar  temperament,  Garat  found  life  in  Paris 
tolerable  until  the  end  of  1792.  He  made  not  the 
slightest  effort  to  conciliate  public  opinion.  He 
adopted  neither  the  English  coat  nor  the 
carmagnole,  neither  pantaloons  nor  high  boots, 
neither  the  cap  of  Liberty  nor  the  round  hat,  neither 
the  chevelure  a  Titus  nor  the  true  Republican 
tangle.  He  went  his  way,  attending  such  salons 
as  were  open,  singing  at  some  of  these  and  at 
concerts  for  money ;  singing  of  young  love, 
shepherdesses,  the  zephyrs  of  spring,  the  rosebud, 
and  other  innocent  properties  of  the  time. 

In  this  he  was  not  singular.  During  the  Terror 
itself  Bernardin  de  Saint-Pierre  was  writing  La 
Chaumiere  indienne ;  Berquin  published  the 
Journal  des  Enfants ;  the  theatres  were  full  of 
vaudevilles  ;    the  song-writers  were  busy  as  usual. 

He  sang,  as  we  have  seen,  at  numerous  concerts  ; 
he  attended  his  usual  haunts,  so  long  as  they  were 
open.  He  had  long  been  a  visitor  at  the  house 
of  Mme.  de  Sainte-Amaranthe  ;  then  he  was  accom- 
panied on  the  harp  by  an  old  acquaintance,  Mme. 
Gilibert,  the  daughter  of  the  major  of  the  Invalides, 
who  was  mistress  of  ceremonies  at  the  concert  given 
by  the  Abbe  d'Espagnac  in  honour  of  that  unfor- 
tunate lady  the  Princesse  de  Lamballe,  and  was 
now,  like  the  singer,  reduced  to  making  music 
for  a  living.  Here,  of  old,  he  had  met  Louis  de 
Narbonne,    the    lover    of     Mme.     de     Stael ;      de 

159 


Pierre  Garat 

Vaudreuil,  his  early  patron ;  Tilly,  de  Rohan, 
Condorcet,  the  Abbe  Delille  of  Cabbage  and 
Turnip  fame,  and  many  another ;  nearly  all  to 
disappear,  one  by  one  ;  nearly  all,  by  the  time  he 
left  Paris,  in  exile,  in  prison,  or  dead. 

As  the  Revolution  progressed  the  company 
became  Republican  :  consisting  more  especially  of 
Garat's  own  friends  and  countrymen,  the  Girondists, 
friends  of  his  father  and  uncle.  Happily  for  him- 
self he  left  Paris  before  the  catastrophe  which 
destroyed  them,  and  that  later  tragedy  which  fell 
upon  his  hostess  and  her  daughter. 

Mme.  de  Sainte-Amaranthe  was  one  of  those 
ladies  known  to  the  polite  youth  of  Paris  as  "  demi- 
castors."  That  is,  she  was  wealthy,  and  her 
position  was  assured,  but  her  salon  was  frequented 
by  men  rather  than  by  women.  Thiebault  speaks 
of  her  daughter  with  enthusiasm.  She  had,  before 
he  saw  her,  retired  from  the  world  for  a  few  months, 
occupied  in  the  production  of  a  child  :  the  father, 
it  was  whispered,  being  the  Comte  d'Artois.  She 
returned,  resuming  her  visits  to  Vauxhall,  when 
young  Thiebault,  who  frequented  the  place,  "  but 
without  his  mother,"  thought  her  "  so  far  more 
beautiful  than  before  that  she  seemed  more  than 
human." 

Robespierre  was  finally  an  intimate  of  Mme. 
de  Sainte-Amaranthe's  salon.  After  the  fall  of  the 
Girondists  his  visits  continued.  Was  his  hostess 
venal,  or  did  she  encourage  his  attentions  for  the 

1 60 


The  Revolution 

sake  of  safety,  or  did  he  force  himself  upon  her  as  a 
guest?     She  would  not  have  dared  to  refuse  him. 

The  beautiful  daughter  had  married  a  M.  de 
Sartiges.  This  was  nothing  to  Robespierre,  who 
by  all  accounts  paid  vigorous  court  to  her.  Not 
long  before  the  culmination  of  the  Terror,  Trial 
and  Robespierre  were,  with  others,  at  supper 
with  the  mother  and  daughter  and  de  Sartiges. 
Robespierre,  flushed  with  victory,  drank  more 
deeply  than  was  his  wont,  and  eventually  boasted 
of  his  plan  "  to  sicken  France  of  liberty  by 
drenching  her  with  blood."  In  the  morning  Trial, 
who  had  remained  sober,  rushed  round  to 
Robespierre.  "You  betrayed  everything  at 
supper  !  "  he  cried.  "  You  have  confided  in 
people  of  whom  it  is  impossible  to  be  certain  !  " 

Robespierre's  action  was  immediate.  His 
hostess,  her  daughter,  and  her  son-in-law,  and  all 
those  who  had  been  present  at  the  supper — even 
the  servants — were  arrested  on  a  charge  of  attempt- 
ing to  poison  the  "  saviour  of  France."  All  were 
promptly  condemned  and  executed — it  is  farcical  to 
say  "  tried."  Only  the  young  and  lovely  girl  kept 
her  courage,  and  sought  to  cheer  the  others  by  her 
gaiety.  The  condemned  victims  were  clad  in  red 
mantles  for  the  journey  in  the  tumbril.  Mme.  de 
Sartiges  laughed.  "Would  not  any  one  think  we 
were  off  to  a  Mardi  gras  procession?" 

Another  house  at  which  Garat  often  sang  was 

161  L 


Pierre  Garat 

that  of  Mme.  de  Beauharnais.  It  was  not  until 
1794  that  the  guillotine  made  her  a  widow.  Her 
salon  was  open  during  the  whole  of  the  Terror, 
and  as  long  as  Garat  remained  in  Paris  was  the 
rallying-point  of  men  of  the  most  varied  opinions  : 
Mably,  Clootz,  Saint -Aldegonde,  Bailly.  'Here  he 
might  have  met  Morris,  who,  unaffected  by  any 
post-Revolutionary  glamour,  throws  a  curious  light 
on  the  simplicity  of  home  life  during  the  ancien 
regime.  Early  in  1789  he  was  asked  to  dine:  at 
3.0,  the  fashionable  hour.  Anxious  to  be  punctual, 
he  arrived  at  3.15.  In  the  salon  he  found  no 
expectant  company,  but  "  dirty  linen  and  no  fire." 
A  waiting-woman  removed  the  one ;  a  valet  lit 
the  other,  with  three  sticks.  The  fire  smoked;  a 
window  was  opened  ;  between  the  two  Morris  was 
smoked  and  frozen.  About  4.0  the  guests  began 
to  arrive.  "  I  begin,"  says  Morris,  "  to  suspect 
that  I  shall  have  the  honour  ...  to  dine  with 
that  excellent  part  of  the  species  who  devote  them- 
selves to  the  Muses.  .  .  .  The  gentlemen  begin  to 
compliment  their  respective  works.  .  .  .  Towards 
five  Madame  slips  in  to  announce  dinner  and  the 
hungry  poets  advance  to  the  charge.  As  they 
bring  good  appetites  ...  I  console  myself  that 
for  this  day  at  least  I  shall  escape  indigestion. 
A  very  narrow  escape  too,  for  some  rancid  butter 
of  which  the  cook  had  been  very  liberal  puts  me 
in  bodily  fear."  He  resolves  "never  again  to 
occupy  the  place  from  which  perhaps  I  had 
excluded   a   worthier   personage." 

162 


The  Revolution 

This  was  in  March.  In  November  he  went 
again,  still  to  find  "  a  coterie  who  bemoaned  the 
insensibility  of  the  world  to  their  literary  efforts." 

Josephine  had  as  yet  hardly  established  her 
position  ;  but  as  the  unsuccessful  poet  naturally 
develops  into  the  Jacobin,  the  future  of  her  salon 
might  have  been  foretold,  even  had  her  husband 
not  been  a  general  of  the  Revolutionary  army. 
The  company  cannot  always  have  been  congenial 
to  Garat,  who,  as  the  Revolution  progressed,  must 
have  held  the  Jacobin  gospel  in  ever -increasing 
disgust.  But  we  must  remember  that  he  was  now 
working  for  his  living,  and  therefore  came  into 
contact  with  his  fellow-guests  in  an  especial  and  a 
non-political  mood.  He  did  not  always  dine  ;  he 
often  appeared,  so  to  speak,  with  the  dessert ;  sang, 
allowed  a  few  eager  ladies  to  make  love  to  him, 
and  departed  to  another  salon,  or  the  theatre,  or 
the  chambers  of  some  musical  friend,  or  the 
dressing-room  of  his  mistress.  Here  again  he  may 
in  a  measure  have  evaded  the  political  excitement 
of  the  time.  It  is  certain  that  he  did  his  utmost 
to  ignore  the  Revolution,  as  the  safest  and  the 
pleasantest  course  for  an  artist  to  pursue. 


163 


CHAPTER    VIII 
FLIGHT   FROM   PARIS 

Paris  becomes  dangerous— Marat  at  the  house  of  Talma — Garat 
risks  his  head — O  Richard,  d  mon  roil — Garat  arrested — He 
sings  himself  free — He  leaves  Paris  for  Rouen — Mme.  Dugazon's 
courage — The  stage  during  the  Terror — Charles  IX — The  Ami 
des  lot's  — The  escape  of  the  Comedians — The  stage  after  the 
Terror — The  nobility  of  the  noblesse — The  simple  life — Causes 
of  emigration. 

It  was  at  the  house  of  Talma  that  Garat  received 
the  first  plain  warning  that  Paris  was  no  place  for 
a  dandy  of  royalist  sympathies.  It  was  the  16th 
of  October,  1792.  For  the  aristocrat,  the  honest 
man,  the  man  of  breeding,  for  the  quiet  or  cleanly, 
the  provinces  were  a  hell  from  which  all  had  fled 
who  did  not  court  death.  Man,  the  kindly  creature 
depraved  by  laws,  had  cast  them  off  and  was  busily 
seizing  the  goods  of  "  traitors."  Patriotism  had 
become  a  business  in  real  estate. 

Mme.  Talma  was  giving  a  reception  in  honour 
of  Dumouriez,  the  victor  of  Valmy.  Now  it  hap- 
pened, some  time  before,  that  Dumouriez  was  forced 
to  punish  two  volunteer  battalions  for  lack  of 
discipline.     This  came  to  the  ears  of  the  "  Friend 

164 


Flight  from   Paris 

of  the  People."  Man  being  virtuous  by  nature 
had  no  need  of  laws  and  was  perfectly  justified 
in  breaking  them.  Dumouriez,  therefore,  should  be 
punished.  Marat  ran  foaming  to  the  Jacobins  and 
demanded  that  their  commissaries  should  reproach 
Dumouriez  for  leaving  his  army  "  to  abandon 
himself  to  orgies  in  the  house  of  an  actor  and 
the  company  of  the  Opera  nymphs."  Many  of 
the  baser  Jacobins  lived  upon  the  immoral  earnings 
of  women,  which  doubtless  gave  a  stiffening  of 
righteous   indignation   to  the   scandalized  meeting. 

Accompanied  by  four  delegates  the  "  Friend  of 
the  People  "  hasted  to  Talma's  house  in  the  Rue 
Chantereine.  A  brilliant  company  was  present: 
most  of  the  deputies  of  the  Gironde,  stately  and 
substantial  men  of  the  robe,  men  of  letters  and 
scientists,  and  the  leading  actors  and  actresses  of 
Paris,  including  Garat,  and  Dugazon,  if  not  his  wife. 
Marat  and  his  honest  citizens  rushed  like  madmen 
through  the  salons   to   confront   Dumouriez. 

"  Citizen,"  he  cried,  "  a  deputation  of  the  Friends 
of  Liberty  went  to  the  War  Office  to  deliver 
despatches  that  concerned  thee.  They  went  to 
thy  house,  but  found  thee  nowhere.  We  ought 
not  to  have  to  seek  thee  in  such  a  house  as  this, 
amidst  a  rabble  of  concubines  and  counter-revolu- 
tionaries." All  were  silent  ;  but  Talma  advanced. 
"  Citizen  Marat,  by  what  right  do  you  come  to 
my  house  to  insult  our  wives  and  sisters  ?  "     And 

then    Dumouriez  :     "  Am    I    not    to    rest    after    the 

165 


Pierre   Garat 

fatigues  of  war,  surrounded  by  the  arts  and  my 
friends,  without  being  insulted  by  indecent 
epithets  ?  "  Marat  was  apparently  for  once  at  a 
loss.  The  brilliant,  contemptuous  company,  the 
shuffling  of  his  awkward  companions,  his  failure 
to  make  a  sensation,  were  too  much  for  him.  He 
stamped  off  with  his  Friends  of  Liberty,  shouting, 
"  This  house  is  a  nest  of  counter-revolutionaries  !  " 
Saint-Georges,  the  gigantic  mulatto,  was  with  diffi- 
culty restrained  from  following  him.  Presently, 
the  general  indignation  being  a  little  appeased, 
Dugazon  went  through  the  salons,  bearing  a  little 
pan  of  perfumes,  censing  the  groups  of  anxious 
talkers.  The  air  being  purified,  Candolle  played 
the  piano,  Lefevre  the  flute,  and  Garat  sang.  Next 
day  the  Ami  du  peuple  displayed  the  heading : 
"  Great  Conspiracy  discovered  by  Citizen  Marat. 
Great  assembly  of  Girondists  and  counter-revolu- 
tionaries at  the  house  of  citizen  Talma." 

This  was  a  warning.  A  little  later  Garat  came 
near,  by  his  own  imprudence,  to  losing  his  life. 

The  days  of  the  Terrorist  reaction  had  come  : 
the  days  when  all  went  in  fear  of  being  "  suspect 
of  being  suspect  "  :  when  the  reactionaries  spent 
their  time  in  domiciliary  visits  ;  the  days  of  the 
informer  and  the  "  acquirer  of  national  property." 
The  massacres  of  September  had  left  all  Paris 
quaking.  But  the  theatres  were  open  as  usual  ; 
more  than  usual,  for  there  were  new  theatres  ;    men 

1 66 


Flight   from   Paris 


sought  oblivion  in  a  few  hours'  amusement ;  in 
the  theatre,  moreover,  failing  a  riot,  one  was  fairly 
safe  from  arrest.  Louis  XVI  was  in  the  Temple, 
awaiting  trial.  Garat,  one  evening,  in  the  foyer 
of  the  Opera,  began  to  sing  the  well-known  song 
from  one  of  Gr6try's  operas,  O  Richard,  6  mon 
roi! 

Was  it  a  piece  of  contemptuous  impertinence,  or 
the  foolhardy  action  of  a  man  exasperated,  or  the 
result  of  sheer  absence  of  mind?  We  can  only 
guess.  There  were,  of  course,  plenty  of  patriots 
to  report  the  offence  in  the  proper  quarter  ;  adding 
details,  no  doubt,  as  to  the  aristocratic  dress,  the 
finicking  cleanliness,  the  arrogant  bearing  of  this 
servant  of  a  ci-devant.  He  was  on  the  point  of 
imprisonment  and  trial  when  he  was  saved  by 
Danton.  Danton  was  a  confirmed  piaygoer ;  he 
was  also  one  of  the  few  notable  men  to  retain  the 
old  fashions  of  dress  ;  he  may  well  have  felt  some 
sympathy  for  Garat,  and  certainly  would  not  have 
regarded  him  as  a  danger  to  the  nation. 

The  third  warning  was  not  long  deferred. 
Garat  was  abroad  one  evening — going,  perhaps, 
from  one  salon  to  another — when  he  was  arrested 
by  a  patrol  of  National  Guards  preceded  by  scouts 
with  fixed  bayonets.  The  Convention  had  decreed 
that  all  persons  failing  to  produce  their  cards  of 
citizenship  should  be  immediately  arrested.  Garat, 
by    ill    luck,    had    not    his    card    upon   his   person. 

167 


Pierre   Garat 

He  was  taken  to  the  section-house.  The  officer 
in  command  of  the  patrol  began  his  interrogation. 
"  Your  profession?  "  "  I  sing."  "  That,"  retorted 
the  officer,  "  is  not  a  profession.  I  also  sing." 
"  Possibly,"  drawled  our  hero,  "  but  I  sing  better 
than  you.  The  case  is  not  the  same."  "  Oh  ! 
you  will  have  to  prove  that  !  "  Garat,  always 
fond  of  an  innocent  coup  de  thedtre,  immediately 
attacked  one  of  the  most  florid  romances  of  his 
repertoire  :  a  thing  of  trills,  roulades,  and 
"  dying  falls  "  ;  a  performance  so  astonishing, 
in  that  grimy  guard-house,  that  his  captors  not 
only  released  him,  but  escorted  him  home  in 
triumph . 

Orpheus  sang  himself  once  out  of  Hades  ;  Garat 
sang  himself  out  of  the  guard -house.  He  did  not 
care  to  risk  a  second  test  of  his  powers.  For 
a  known  servant  of  the  Court,  an  obvious  dandy, 
and  a  man  of  aristocratic  sympathies,  the  capital 
was  now  altogether  too  risky  a  residence.  It  is 
possible,  too,  that  he  feared  the  vengeance  of 
a  Jacobin  rival ;  if  so,  he  did  not  wholly  escape 
it  by  fleeing  from  Paris. 

He  left  the  city  with  Rode,  his  friend  and  fellow- 
townsman,  then  leader  of  the  second  violins  at  the 
Theatre  Feydeau.  It  was  in  the  last  days  of 
December,  1792.  He  made,  like  so  many  other 
refugees,  for  Rouen  ;  probably  because  the  dis- 
tance was  not  too  great,  and  because  the  city 
seemed   comparatively  safe. 

168 


Flight   from   Paris 

We  have  seen  that  Garat  was  in  no  sense  a 
politician  ;  politics  was  not  his  "  affair,"  and  his 
attachment  to  the  anclen  regime  was  chiefly  one 
of  gratitude  and  loyalty.  Mme.  Dugazon,  his  some- 
time mistress — for  that  fiery  passion  had  died  a 
natural  death — was  more  definitely  a  royalist,  and 
was  fully  as  courageous  and  reckless  as  her  truant 
lover.  Late  in  the  Revolution,  when  the  Queen 
had  already  become  the  hated  Madame  Veto,  she 
was  playing  the  part  of  the  maid  in  Evenements 
imprevues.  The  Queen  was  in  her  box.  In  this 
opera  there  is  a  duet  between  the  valet  and  the 
maid  ;  the  valet  confiding  to  the  latter  his  love 
for  his  master  :  J'aime  mon  mditre  tendrement.  To 
which  Mme.  Dugazon  had  to  reply,  Ah!  comme 
'faime  ma  maltresse!  A  harmless  sentiment ;  but 
the  singer,  turning  toward  the  Queen,  laid  her  hand 
upon  her  heart,  sang  the  words  in  a  voice  tremu- 
lous with  emotion,  and  bowed  as  she  sang.  There 
were  instant  cries  of  "  To  prison  !  to  prison  !  " — 
and  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  mummer  was 
as  liable  as  ever  to  be  haled  from  the  stage  to  the 
gaol  at  the  slightest  offence  ;  only  the  jurisdic- 
tion was  altered.  Mme.  Dugazon's  reply  was  to 
show  her  contempt  for  her  audience  :  not,  as  did 
her  Jacobin  husband  upon  an  equally  famous 
occasion,  by  throwing  her  wig  in  their  faces,  but 
by  waiting  for  the  uproar  to  cease  and  repeating 
the  line  with  renewed  emphasis.  For  a  wonder  her 
courage  was  loudly  cheered. 

169 


Pierre   Garat 

Later,  when  Garat  had  left  the  city,  in  the  thick 
of  the  Terror,  the  audience  requested  her — it  was 
a  habit  of  the  time — to  sing  some  violent  and 
execrable  verses  reflecting  on  the  royal  family. 
She  refused,  walked  off  the  stage,  and  left  the 
theatre. 

The  world  of  the  theatre  was,  needless  to  state, 
fully  as  divided  in  its  sympathies  as  the  greater 
world.  Garat  was  not  only  a  confirmed  playgoer 
and  acquainted  with  half  the  stage  of  Paris  ;  he 
came  very  near,  at  one  time,  to  treading  the  boards 
for  a  living.  Before  we  follow  him  to  Rouen  it 
will  be  interesting  to  note  the  vicissitudes  of  these 
his  friends,  before  and  after  his  own  departure  to 
safer  regions. 

Foremost  among  the  theatrical  companies  of 
Paris  was  that  long  known  as  the  King's 
Comedians,  of  whom  Talma  and  Dugazon  were  the 
leading  members.  Under  the  ancien  regime  the 
Gentlemen  of  the  Chamber  exercised  a  supreme 
authority  over  actors  and  actresses  ;  they  might 
imprison  them  at  will,  without  ceremony,  without 
trial.  An  offending  actress,  who  let  fall  a  too 
salacious  phrase,  was  ordered  there  and  then  to 
her  cell  ;  if  engaged  to  sup  in  the  city  with  some 
noble  admirer,  the  latter  would  drive  her  to  her 
prison,  the  supper  following  in  hampers.  Priests 
would  neither  bury  nor  marry  members  of  the 
dramatic    profession    unless    they    renounced    their 

170 


Flight  from  Paris 

calling.  It  is  not  astonishing  that  Garat,  despite 
repeated  incitements,  could  not  bring  himself  to 
adopt  such  a  trade. 

In  1789  the  authority  of  the  Commune  replaced 
that  of  the  Gentlemen ;  not  at  once,  however ; 
for  a  time  both  authorities  issued  orders  simul- 
taneously. 

At  Bailly's  order  the  name  of  the  theatre  at 
which  the  King's  Comedians  appeared  was  altered 
from  the  Theatre  Frangais  to  the  Theatre  National. 
Here,  on  the  4th  of  November,  1789,  the  company 
presented  Ch^nier's  Charles  IX.  The  success  of 
the  piece  was  stupendous,  for  it  represented  a  king 
of  France  in  the  character  of  a  butcher  of 
his  people.  The  Court  forbade  any  further 
representation. 

Two  years  later  Mirabeau  was  one  night  in  the 
theatre.  It  pleased  him  to  demand,  in  a  stentorian 
voice,  the  resuscitation  of  Charles  IX.  Naudet 
replied  that  this  was  impossible,  two  of  the  com- 
pany being  ill.  Talma  retorted  that  if  all  his 
companions  were  as  good  patriots  as  he  the  play 
could  be  given.  The  result  was  a  duel.  Naudet 
accused  Talma  of  hiding  in  a  loft  when  called  out 
as  a  National  Guard  to  quell  a  riot.  Talma  replied 
that  he  had  repaired  to  an  upper  floor  for  purposes 
of  strategy  and  observation — a  curious  defence,  in 
view  of  his  own  account  of  his  eyesight.  They 
fought  on  the  following  day  ;  the  distance  was 
twenty  paces.      '  Thanks  to  my  abominable  sight," 

171 


Pierre  Garat 

said  Talma,  "  I  could  not  even  see  Naudet,"  who 
was  a  small  man.  "  '  What  are  you  looking  for? ' 
cried  a  second.  '  Faith,  for  Naudet  !  '  Naudet 
advances  ten  paces.  '  Do  you  see  me  now?  '  he 
cried.  And  indeed  I  did  see  him,  as  in  a  fog. 
I  fired  :  my  ball  must  have  missed  him  by  ten 
feet ;    he  fired  in  the  air." 

Talma  was  then  dismissed  by  the  Comedians. 
Bailly  informed  them  that  they  could  not  act  both 
as  parties  and  as  judges,  and  ordered  them  to 
allow  Talma  to  play  until  the  Commune  had  con- 
sidered the  matter.  The  Comedians  ignored  his 
warning.  Fleury,  noted  for  his  grands  seigneurs, 
informed  the  public  of  their  decision.  Out  rushed 
Dugazon,  denouncing  his  comrades,  who  intended, 
he  complained,  to  expel  not  only  Talma  but  him- 
self. A  frightful  uproar  ensued  ;  the  stage  was 
stormed,  and  the  benches  of  the  theatre  were 
smashed.  Armed  intervention  was  necessary  to 
restore  order. 

Bailly,  next  day,  summoned  the  Comedians 
before  his  bar  and  ordered  them  to  obey.  They 
refused.  Bailly  retorted  by  closing  the  theatre. 
Dugazon,  as  the  instigator  of  the  riot,  was  confined 
to  his  rooms  for  a  week. 

The  Comedians  eventually  gave  way.  On  Sep- 
tember 28th  Talma  appeared  with  Dugazon  in 
Charles  IX.     Both  won  frantic  applause. 

The  majority  of  the  company  were  naturally 
enough   enemies   of   the   Revolution.      The   spoiled 

172 


Flight  from   Paris 


favourites  of  a  prodigal  Court,  they  were  now  the 
slaves  of  a  violent,  unreasonable,  tyrannical  mob. 
The  quarrel  soon  came  to  a  head.  The  revolu- 
tionaries left  the  theatre  and  established  themselves 
at  the  theatre  of  the  Palais -Royal,  afterwards  the 
Com£die.  It  was  known  first  as  the  Theatre 
Francais  and  then  as  the  Theatre  de  la  Repub- 
lique.  Talma  and  Dugazon  were  of  course  the 
leading  actors.  Here  revolutionary  fustian  was 
performed,  such  as  Despotisme  re  averse,  a  piece 
in  which  armed  mobs  pillaged  shops  and  houses 
while  the  French  Guards  assisted  and  applauded 
them.  In  the  case  of  other  plays  every  word  that 
might  wound  the  susceptibilities  of  a  tender  patriot 
was  erased.  Such  words  as  valet,  marquis,  slave, 
etc.,  were  forbidden.  Lines  that  flattered  kings 
or  priests  were  turned  into  attacks  upon  them. 
No  matter  how  grotesque  the  phrasing,  how 
atrocious  the  rhyme,  how  lame  the  rhythm,  all 
lines  that  offended  patriotism  had  to  be  changed 
to  please  the  audience. 

To  return  to  the  parent  theatre  :  in  January, 
I793>  a  month  after  Garat  had  left  Paris,  the  re- 
maining Comedians  represented  the  Ami  des  lots. 
This  was  known  to  be  a  frankly  reactionary  piece. 
The  occasion  is  interesting  as  showing  how  many 
people  were  not  merely  sick  of  the  waste  and  licence 
of  anarchy,  the  cowardice  of  the  Assembly,  and 
the  brutality  of  the  mob,  but  had  the  courage  to 
reveal  their  indignation.     A  curious  and  audacious 

i73 


Pierre   Garat 

crowd  spent  the  night  before  the  performance  at 
the  doors  of  the  theatre. 

Lami  des  lois  might  well  have  been  called  The 
Anti-Jacobin.  It  proved  to  be  a  well-merited 
attack  upon  the  "  false  patriots,  whitewashed 
without,  with  souls  of  hypocrites  "  who  were 
devastating  France. 

"  Let  all  these  charlatans,  plebeian  thieves, 
insolent  braggarts  of  patriotism,  purge  this 
enfranchised  soil  of  their  aspect  !  War,  eternal 
war  to  the  creators  of  anarchy  !  "  Here,  in  the 
plainest  of  language,  was  spoken  what  thousands 
were  thinking  but  dared  not  whisper.  The 
excitement  was  delirious. 

The  spectators  were  promptly  denounced,  with 
true  popular  logic,  as  an  assembly  oi— emigres! 
Anaxagoras  Chaumette  was  the  accuser  ;  the  Com- 
mune, on  the  1 2th  of  January,  forbade  the  play. 
It  was  already  announced  for  the  13th. 

The  crowd  was  as  great  as  ever  on  the  13th, 
but  when  the  curtain  rose  the  actors  read  the  decree 
of  the  Commune.  There  was  instant  uproar  of 
whistling,  groaning,  and  hissing,  and  many  voices 
clamoured  for  the  play.  The  theatre  was  suddenly 
filled  with  armed  men,  and  two  cannon  were  un- 
limbered  in  the  Rue  de  Buci.  Nothing  daunted, 
the  audience  continued  their  protests.  Santerre, 
in  uniform,  sought  to  overawe  them.  "  Down  with 
the  shaggy  general  !  "  was  the  cry.  "  To  the  door  ! 
Silence  !     The  play,  or  death  !  " 

i74 


Flight   from  Paris 

The  mayor  of  Paris  appeared  :  Chambon,  him- 
self an  actor,  who  died  soon  after  as  a  result  of 
injuries  received  that  night.  The  tumult  increased. 
The  people  demanded  that  the  matter  should  be 
referred  to  the  Convention,  which  was  then  sitting 
"  in  permanence  "  to  try  the  King.  Chambon  and 
the  author  went  to  the  bar  of  the  Convention. 
After  a  noisy  debate  the  Convention  declared  the 
Commune  to  have  exceeded  its  powers.  The  news 
was  brought  to  the  theatre,  where  the  audience 
eagerly  awaited  it.  The  applause  was  frantic,  and 
the  piece  was  immediately  played,  the  curtain 
falling  at   i  a.m.  on  the   14th. 

The  next  move  on  the  part  of  the  discomfited 
Commune  was  to  declare  all  theatres  closed.  The 
Executive  Council  quashed  the  decree,  but  autho- 
rized the  prohibition  of  such  plays  as  might  give 
rise  to  disorder.  The  Commune,  of  course, 
proscribed  the  Ami  des  lois. 

During  the  Terror  the  Convention  decreed  that 
any  theatre  producing  plays  likely  to  deprave  the 
mind  or  "  arouse  the  shameful  superstition  of 
royalty  "  should  be  closed,  and  the  directors 
punished  according  to  the  rigour  of  the  law. 

The  Commune  had  a  long  memory.  In  Sep- 
tember it  found  its  opportunity.  The  offending 
play  was  harmless  enough  :  Pamela,  an  adaptation 
of  Richardson's  novel ;  but  to  the  sensitive  patriot 
certain  of  the  speeches  savoured  of  royalism.  At 
the  Jacobins  the  theatre  was  denounced  as  a  nest 

175 


Pierre  Garat 

of  counter-revolutionaries.  It  was  closed,  and  the 
members  of  the  company  arrested  in  the  night. 
The  men  were  imprisoned  in  the  Madelonettes,  the 
women  in  Sainte-Pelagie.  Five  months  later  they 
were  transferred  to  Picpus  and  Les  Anglaises. 

Mole  alone  escaped  arrest  :  a  patriot  of  the 
purest,  whose  door  bore  the  legend,  "  Here  dwells 
the  Republican  MoleV'  He  profited  by  his  free- 
dom to  play  the  part  of  Marat  at  a  minor 
theatre . 

Now  for  the  last  act.  Champville,  nephew  of 
PreVille,  the  great  comedian,  was  arrested  with 
the  company,  but  released.  He  went  to  Collot 
d'Herbois,  himself  an  actor ;  but  a  bad  actor, 
as  Robespierre,  Danton,  and  Fabre  were  bad 
poets  ;  not  likely,  therefore,  to  show  clemency  to 
genius.  "  Off  with  you  !  "  cried  Collot ;  "  you  are 
lucky  to  be  out  of  it ;  you  and  your  friends  are 
all  counter-revolutionaries.  The  principal  will  be 
guillotined  and  the  rest  deported." 

Collot  meant  the  rest  to  meet  a  bloodier  fate. 
That  very  day  he  sent  to  Fouquier-Tinville  a  note 
of  accusation.  Six  names — those  of  Dazincourt, 
Fleury,  Lange,  Raucourt,  Louise  Contat,  and  Emilie 
Contat  were  followed  by  a  capital  G. 

The  "trial"  was  fixed  for  the  14th  of  July, 
1794.  Within  twenty-four  hours  of  the  trial  all 
would  have  been  over.  On  the  14th  the  usual 
crowd  which  assembled,  on  the  quays  and  bridges, 

176 


Flight   from   Paris 

to  watch  the  tumbrils  and  insult  the  already 
doomed,   was  larger  than  ever. 

But  no  Comedians  appeared  in  the  lugubrious 
procession.  A  clerk  of  the  Committee  of  Public 
Safety,  of  whom  we  know  that  he  was  named 
Labassiere,  stole  the  accusing  documents  which 
Collot  was  forwarding  to  Tinville.  Fresh  documents 
had  to  be  prepared.  These  too  disappeared.  And 
then — before  the  accusing  papers  could  a  third  time 
be  drafted — the  9th  of  Thermidor  had  arrived. 
The  Comedians  were  saved.  Released,  they  re- 
opened in  the  Rue  Feydeau  with  the  Death  of 
Ccesar.     Paris  received  them  with  open  arms.1 

For  their  colleagues  of  the  Theatre  National 
these  were  difficult  days.  Duzagon  was  known 
to  have  preached  moderation  as  a  crime  ;  although 
loaded  with  favours  by  the  royal  family  he  was 
one  of  that  nightmare  army  which  brought  the 
King  from  Versailles  to  Paris.  After  Thermidor 
he  was  playing  the  part  of  a  valet.  His  master, 
in  the  play,  upbraided  him  :  '  We've  no  more  use 
for  thee  or  thy  filthy  race."  Heartfelt  applause! 
Dugazon,  stung  to  the  quick,  advanced  to  the  edge 
of  the  stage  and  flung  his  wig  at  the  spectators. 
A  rush  was  made  at  him  ;  but  a  resourceful  stage- 
carpenter  sent  him  down  to  the  lower  regions  by 
way  of  a  trap,  and  he  fled  by  a  back  exit. 

Fusil,  returning  from  Lyons  with  blood  on  his 
hands,    was    met    with    cries    of   "  Down    with    the 

1  See  Maupas'  Les  Comidiens  hors  de  la  lot. 

177  M 


Pierre   Garat 

murderer  1  "  He  was  ordered  for  his  life  to  sing 
the  Reveil  da  Peuple,  the  anti-Terrorist  hymn.  His 
voice  failed.  Talma,  no  singer,  read  the  hymn, 
the  quaking  Fusil  holding  a  torch  to  light  him. 

Even  Talma  was  accused  of  betraying  his  old 
comrades,  the  Comedians.  He  justified  himself. 
"  The  reign  of  Terror  has  cost  me  many  tears 
and  the  greater  number  of  my  friends  are  dead 
on  the  scaffold."  He  was  applauded.  He  spoke 
the  truth.  He  barely  escaped  the  guillotine  at 
the  time  of  the  Girondist  tragedy,  and  later  did  his 
utmost  to  save  his  colleagues,  as  Larrive  and  Mile. 
Contat  testified. 

Trial,  the  creature  of  Robespierre,  his  companion 
at  the  fatal  Sainte-Amaranthe  supper,  had  the 
audacity  to  return  to  the  boards.  He  was  then 
a  member  of  the  Commune.  The  audience  forced 
him  to  beg  for  his  life  on  his  knees.  Next  day 
the  Commune  expelled  him.  He  died  by  his  own 
hand. 

Lastly,  a  word  as  to  the  all-conquering  Saint- 
Huberty,  who  before  the  Revolution,  and  for  a 
time  in  its  earlier  days,  sang  beside  Garat  on  the 
concert-platform.  <  The  Comte  d'Entraigues  was  her 
lover:  a  noble  of  the  strongest  royalist  opinions. 
Early  in  the  Revolution  the  two  left  France. 
Lausanne  was  their  refuge.  D'Entraigues  sincerely 
loved  his  mistress,  and  at  Lausanne  married  her, 
in  December,  1790.  They  led  a  wandering  life; 
at  Trieste,  where  the  Comte  was  arrested,  and  his 

178 


Flight   from   Paris 

wife  contrived  his  escape  ;  in  Vienna,  Gratz,  and 
finally  in  England.  In  London,  it  seems, 
d'Entraigues  had  some  political  mission  to  fulfil 
for  the  Emperor  of  Russia.  One  evening  they 
were  entering  their  carriage  when  a  servant 
assassinated  both. 

Before  we  follow  Garat  in  his  new  career,  let  us 
for  a  moment  finally  consider  the  world  that  was 
passing  away.  We  have  seen  something  of  its 
outer  aspect,  as  it  appeared  to  the  external 
observer.  It  was,  to  all  appearances,  a  corrupt, 
selfish,  immoral,  frivolous,  and  cynically  elegant 
world.  Within,  it  presented,  as  may  be  imagined, 
a  very  different  appearance.  Compare  a  typical 
English  home  of  the  wealthier  classes  with  the 
columns  of  a  "  society "  paper,  and  you  will 
appreciate  just  such  a  difference. 

Surprise  has  often  been  expressed,  by  the  super- 
ficial observer,  that  the  men  and  women  of  a  corrupt 
and  superficial  age  knew  how  to  die  nobly.  It 
is  true,  as  we  have  seen,  that  many  natures  encased 
themselves  in  a  kind  of  spiritual  armour ;  true 
also  that  many,  long  before  they  died,  were  worn, 
by  successive  shocks,  to  a  condition  of  apathy  or 
insensitiveness,  in  which  death,  as  the  last  scene 
of  a  world  grown  hideous,  was  welcome  or 
indifferent.  But  the  real  answer  is,  that  they  had 
learned  to  live  nobly  :  that  is,  as  became  a  noble 
race.     It  is  true  that  manner  was  everything  ;    men 

179 


Pierre  Garat 

won  place  and  power  by  charm  of  address ;  a 
pension  was  awarded  for  a  bon  mot,  an  embassy 
for  an  epigram.  And  as  to  please  was  the  aim 
of  the  gentleman,  so  to  afflict  others  with  one's 
woes  or  infirmities  was  the  unpardonable  sin. 
These  were  to  be  borne  in  private,  with  pious 
resignation  or  patient  stoicism.  '  The  people  of 
the  great  world,"  wrote  Portalis,  "  live  to  the  last 

moment.     Mme.  D died  lately  as  she  returned 

from  the  promenade  ;  she  was  failing  a  long  time  ; 
each  moment  might  have  been  her  last ;  no  matter, 
she  always  went  out."  Suffering,  age,  infirmity, 
were  for  the  closet,  the  bedchamber.  To  please, 
never  to  offend  or  sadden,  was  from  childhood 
the  aim  of  good  breeding.  Life  was  the  art  in 
which  all  were  masters.  Is  it  so  wonderful  that 
such  a  generation  knew  how  to  meet  a  clean  and 
sudden  end  gallantly,  gaily,  gracefully  as  it  had 
lived  ? 

If  not  so  admirable  as  a  whole  as  some  of  our 
memoirists  would  have  us  believe,  there  was  yet 
very  much  in  that  age  too  precious  to  be  lost. 
Lost  it  was  utterly:  to  the  race,  to  the  world. 
Thousands  of  years  of  evolution  produced  a 
flower;  it  has  perished  ;  it  has  left  no  seed.  There 
was,  in  the  best  men  and  women  of  that  age,  an 
amenity,  a  gay  humanity,  a  tolerance,  a  sweetness 
of  temper  that  have  rarely  since  appeared  in 
French  society  or  letters  ;  and  save  as  the  work 
of  time  they  cannot  again  appear. 

1 80 


Flight  from    Paris 

Financially  the  age  was  preposterous ;  out- 
wardly it  was  artificial.  But  who  can  read  the 
memoirs  and  letters  of  the  great  ladies  of  the  time 
without  recognizing  that  here  were  spirits  most  truly 
"  gentle,"  flowers  of  a  civilization  not  worth  indeed 
the  cost,  but  worth  much,  and  leaving  the  world 
for  decades  a  poorer  place  for  their  absence  ? 

The  philosophers  of  the  eighteenth  century  had 
done  their  work.  Life,  being  a  thing  gracious 
and  beautiful,  was  worshipped  upon  the  altars  ; 
love,  maternity,  health,  beauty,  grace,  good-will, 
the  fundamental  facts  and  beauties  of  life,  frankly 
accepted,  refined  only  by  beauty  of  gesture,  were 
the  familiar  deities  of  the  home.  If  Hymen  was 
not  among  these  deities,  that  was  natural  in  a 
nation  ignorant  of  romantic  marriage.  Women 
deceived  their  husbands,  but  not  their  lovers. 
Those  lovers  could  be  heroic  ;  they  defended  their 
mistresses'  honour  by  the  sword  ;  one  well-known 
gallant,  escaping  from  the  chamber  of  his  beloved, 
had  two  fingers  jammed  in  the  door  ;  to  save  her 
from  discovery  he  cut  them  off  with  the  uninjured 
hand. 

Artificial  abroad,  life  at  home  was  almost 
austere  in  its  simplicity.  As  in  all  true  civiliza- 
tions, the  truly  well-bred  was  at  home  the  simple 
and  spontaneous  ;  for  civilization  is  only  the  school 
which  allows  us  to  cast  off  restraints  without 
mutual  offence. 

181 


Pierre  Garat 

The  "  return  to  nature  "  had  its  practical  side. 
Women  began  once  more  to  nurse  their  children  ; 
the  Comtesse  de  Neuilly  was  awarded  a  gold  medal 
by  the  Academy  of  Rouen  for  the  best  of  a  con- 
course of  poems  upon  the  advantages  of  giving 
suck  to  one's  children.  Mme.  de  Salabery  was 
painted  in  the  act  of  suckling  her  child.  No  hands 
less  gentle  than  the  mother's  might  bathe  and  tend 
the  tender  limbs ;  the  mother  taught  the  child 
to  read ;  the  children  worshipped  these  young, 
fair,  gracious  mothers  with  a  love  that  was 
idolatry,  literally  kissing  the  ground  they  trod.  It 
is  characteristic  of  the  age  that  the  children  of  the 
Due  d'Orleans  kissed  the  footsteps  of  Mme.  de 
Genlis. 

Ideas  of  hygiene  were  general.  The  child  was 
plunged,  in  the  morning,  into  ice-cold  water,  to 
harden  it,  or  encouraged  to  run,  in  the  lightest  of 
garments,  in  the  Tuileries  gardens.  Children  could 
hear  no  unwholesome  tales  from  superstitious 
nurses  ;  no  uncleanly  habits  or  gross  words 
offended  their  fastidious  senses  ;  they  ate  at 
table,  played  in  the  salon.  And  the  so-called 
atheistic  philosophers  had  done  more  for  Christian 
ideals  than  ever  the  Churches  had  accomplished  ; 
children,  as  well  as  their  elders,  were  full  of  a 
desire,  not  always  very  practical,  more  than  a  little 
sentimental,  but  perfectly  sincere,  to  serve  or 
succour  their  inferiors.  They  ceased  to  press  the 
half-starved  tenants  of  their  estates  ;    on  the  con- 

182 


Flight  from   Paris 

trary,  they  distributed  corn  and  rice  and  money 
during  seasons  of  famine.  Many  lived  upon  gold 
that  fell  like  manna  from  the  hands  of  the  King's 
treasurer  ;  if  their  tenants  were  oppressed  it  was 
by  the  tax-collectors.  Hence  their  feeling  of 
philanthropy  was   quite  secure. 

The  peasants,  for  a  time,  were  equally  simple. 
The  seigneur's  lady  and  her  children  were  often 
seen  among  the  poor,  risking  infection,  on  errands 
of  mercy.  The  seigneur,  when  he  was  known, 
and  a  kindly  man,  was  a  minor  paternal  deity ; 
the  roturier  took  a  vicarious  pride  in  his  stately 
courtesy,  his  benign  smile,  his  splendid  raiment ; 
his  lady  was  worshipped  as  little  lower  than  the 
angels.  If  the  estate  could  not  support  the 
family  in  comfort  the  seigneur  sought  employment 
at  Court ;  his  affairs  would  be  managed  by  an 
intendant,  often  of  mean  birth,  and  therefore  merci- 
less. More  remarkable  even  than  the  charity  of 
the  poor  for  the  poor,  which  is  a  phrase  rather 
than  a  fact,  is  that  solid  reality,  the  cruelty  of 
the  enriched  poor  man. 

So  long  as  the  seigneur  was  just,  and  provided 
relief  after  a  bad  harvest,  the  peasant  dissociated 
him  from  the  Government.  The  Government  was 
the  King's ;  but  the  King,  good  man,  did  not 
know  half  his  servants  did.  But  gradually  the 
peasantry  became  less  simple.  Their  own  seigneur 
might  not  oppress  them,  yet  taille,  poll-tax,  gabelle, 

183 


Pierre    Garat 

corvee,  and  the  rest  of  the  dues  that  ground  them 
down,  which  they  had  so  long  regarded  as  the 
King's,  were  simply  imposed  for  the  benefit  of  the 
very  nobles  who  now  and  again  remitted  a  due 
or  gave  a  few  sacks  of  corn. 

Unsuccessful  and  embittered  bourgeois,  especially 
petty  lawyers,  began  to  play  the  demagogue.  The 
peasant  had  deciphered  the  writing  on  the  wall ; 
the  demagogue  dotted  the  i's  and  crossed  the  t's. 
His  mind  was  incapable  of  containing  two  ideas 
at  one  time,  or  of  balancing  and  comparing  them. 
Many  parts  of  France  were  untouched  by  hard- 
ship ;  many  seigneurs  were  kindly  and  conscien- 
tious landlords  ;  but  when  the  peasant  had  been 
long  befooled  by  promises  of  liberty  and  equality, 
when  every  prohibition  was  removed,  when  envy 
and  greed  and  egotism  took  the  guise  of  patriotism, 
sanctioning  the  worst  excesses,  the  simple  peasant, 
the  kindly  child  of  nature,  the  virtuous,  natural 
man,  lynched  the  seigneurs  and  the  ladies  who 
had  fed  him  in  famine  and  tended  him  in  sick- 
ness with  that  same  hysterical  assumption  of 
patriotic  virtue  to  be  observed  in  a  crowd  of  Florida 
"  crackers  "  hunting  a  possibly  unoffending  negro. 


184 


CHAPTER    IX 
MUSIC   AND   THE   TERROR 

Hard  times — Garat  and  Rode  in  Rouen — A  haven  of  refuge- — 
Social  life  among  the  refugees — Garat  and  Mile,  du  Hamel 
— The  first  concerts — Boieldieu — The  King's  death — Further 
concerts — Difficulties — -Mile,  de  Roussellois — More  concerts — 
Punto — Mme.  de  Chastenay— Figures  in  Rouen  society — 
Further  concerts — A  stormy  scene — The  Terror  in  Rouen 
— Louchet  and  Legendre — Lambert — The  law  of  suspects — 
The  prisons  fill — Garat  arrested — Imprisoned  in  Saint-Yon — 
Lacroix— Life  in  prison — Garat  penniless — Rode  and  Boieldieu 
to  the  rescue — The  "benefit"  concert — Garat  the  life  of  his 
prison — The  Troubadour — Who  was  the  mysterious  rival  ? — 
Thermidor  and  release — More  concerts — The  prisoners'  banquet. 

Although  a  lack  of  grain,  and  more  generally 
a  national  deficiency  of  production,  coupled  with 
an  excess  of  unproductive  expenditure,  was  the 
prime  cause  of  the  Revolution,  fully  ten  years  went 
by  before  either  people  or  Government  applied  itself 
seriously  to  remedy  the  deficit.  Worse,  in  all  parts 
of  France  revolutionary,  or  rather  Jacobin,  mobs 
set  lire  to  ricks  and  granaries,  threw  cargoes  into 
river,  canal,  or  harbour,  and  scuttled  or  burned 
vessels.  For  ten  years  there  was  a  constant  bread 
famine  in  France.     Wages  were  high,  even  when 

185 


Pierre  Garat 

reckoned  in  currency,  but  the  scarcity  of  provisions 
more  than  offset  the  increase.  To  men  without 
property  or  business  interests  or  salaried  employ- 
ment the  problem  of  living  was  for  years  a  grim 
business. 

More  than  ever,  none  the  less,  the  world  required 
to  be  amused.  The  business  of  amusing  Paris 
having  become  too  risky,  Garat,  in  company  with 
Rode,  a  mere  boy  of  sixteen,  set  out,  as  we  have 
seen,  for  Rouen.  Rouen,  like  so  many  of  the 
provincial  capitals  of  the  eighteenth  century,  was 
the  home  of  a  wealthy,  cultivated  bourgeoisie ;  it 
was  also,  to  a  great  extent,  a  city  of  refuge.  The 
two  musicians  found  themselves  known  by  reputa- 
tion ;  to  many  of  the  refugees  they  were  known 
in  person.  It  was  not  many  weeks  before  they 
made  their  first  bow  to  the  Rouen  public. 

Rouen,  we  learn  from  Mme.  de  Chastenay,  was 
a  kind  of  oasis  in  the  devastated  wilderness  of 
France.  The  inhabitants  of  the  countryside  were 
mostly  wealthy  farmers,  a  peaceable,  moderate  folk, 
who  were  in  favour  of  legal  equality,  a  fair  dis- 
tribution of  taxes,  and  the  election  by  the  people 
of  the  secondary  agents  of  the  Government.  For 
them  the  Revolution  was  over,  and  the  Constitution 
in  force.  The  working  classes  of  the  town, 
numbering  some  100,000,  were  also  a  peaceable, 
kindly  folk  ;  as  for  the  bourgeoisie,  they  were 
divided    into    legal    and    mercantile    families,    for 

186 


OLD    ROUEN — l82I. 
From  tlic  engraving  by  liyrne  and  Fitter  after  the  painting  by  G.  Lewis. 


Music  and  the  Terror 

Rouen  was  an  old  Parliament  town.  Between  the 
town  and  the  gown  there  was  a  certain  amount 
of  bitterness  ;  the  lawyers  were  more  extreme,  the 
merchants  were  wealthier.  But  on  the  whole,  as 
compared  with  other  cities  of  France,  Rouen  was 
a  haven  of  peace. 

Even  the  National  Guard,  in  Paris  the  accom- 
plice and  instigator  of  crime,  was  in  Rouen  sober 
and  orderly.  The  town  was  built  of  wood ;  its 
ruin  had  been  the  ruin  of  all  ;  it  was  therefore 
in  the  interests  of  all  to  keep  the  peace. 

Until  shortly  before  Garat's  arrival  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Department  of  Seine-Inferieure  was 
the  Marquis  d'Herbouville,  Mme.  de  Chastenay's 
uncle,  while  the  military  division  was  commanded 
by  M.  de  Liancourt,  an  ardent  military  reformer. 
Both  these  gentlemen  had  a  plan  for  helping  the 
King  to  escape  to  Rouen.  They  were  purposely 
indiscreet,  wishing  the  city  to  grow  accustomed 
to  the  idea  ;  the  result  was  an  influx  of  Royalists . 
Rouen,  moreover,  was  a  port  on  the  way  to 
England. 

On  the  ioth  of  August  there  was  terrible  news 
from  Paris  :  the  mob  was  supreme  ;  the  King  was 
a  prisoner.  Liancourt  emigrated.  Herbouville 
remained  to  keep  order  ;  but  the  troops  revolted 
or  threw  down  their  arms  and  made  off  for  Paris 
or  the   frontiers. 

The  city  was  the  quieter  for  their  absence.     The 

National  Guard  kept  order  to  such  good  purpose 

187 


Pierre  Garat 

that    in    a    city    of     110,000    workers    there    was 
neither   fire  nor  pillage. 

Then  came  the  proclamation  of  Brunswick,  and 
the  declaration  that  the  country  was  in  danger. 
The  general  requisition  did  good  service  by 
draining  off  the  younger  men  and  those  of 
Jacobin   sympathies. 

When  Garat  and  Rode  arrived  the  city  had 
settled  down  to  a  quiet,  humdrum  existence.  There 
were  clouds  in  the  distance  ;  but  in  the  meantime 
life  was  endurable  enough.  Impoverished  nobles, 
idle  lawyers,  anxious  merchants,  all  combined  to 
form  a  society ;  in  the  daytime  they  took  long 
country  walks,  studied  the  classics,  or  botany,  or 
music  ;  in  the  afternoon  they  held  concert-parties  ; 
in  the  evening  they  played  cards.  Many,  for  greater 
safety,  assumed  a  Jacobin  deportment  ;  daughters 
cut  and  sewed  carmagnoles  or  pantaloons  for 
fathers  and  brothers  ;  many  a  harmless  Royalist 
or  Constitutional  Republican  was  the  terror  of  his 
neighbours  until  they  discovered  that  he,  good  man, 
went  equally  in  fear  of  them  ! 

It  was  to  such  a  society  that  Garat  now  appealed 
in  his  quality  of  professional  singer.  He  could 
hardly  have  done  better  ;  not  only  because  Rouen 
was  as  safe  as  any  part  of  France,  but  because, 
to  this  collection  of  refugee  courtiers,  ruined 
Parisians,   and   homeless   Royalists,    his   name   was 

188 


Music  and  the  Terror 

a  household  word  ;  to  hear  Garat,  the  darling  of 
the  Trianon,  the  minstrel  of  a  happier  world  so 
lately  passed  away,  the  aged  beaux  and  pious 
spinsters  who  sought  only  refuge  and  oblivion, 
the  young  girls  who  tended  bewildered  mothers, 
the  young  men  who  sought  to  evade  conscription, 
or  awaited  a  chance  of  escape  to  England  or  to 
Prussia,  would  gather  from  their  quiet  lodgings 
in  the  grassy  suburbs  of  the  city,  and  for  an  hour 
or  two  forget  their  shawls  and  sabots  and  panta- 
loons, thinking  themselves  back  in  the  Paris  of 
three  years  ago. 

Immediately  upon  their  arrival  in  the  city  the 
two  friends  waited  upon  an  old  lady  who  lived 
in  the  precincts  of  the  abbey  of  Saint-Ouen  :  one 
Mile,  du  Hamel,  a  sprightly  and  amiable  spinster, 
who  had  accepted,  in  the  quality  of  paying  guest, 
a  wealthy  and  eccentric  old  gentleman,  by  name 
M.  de  Lampulet.  In  practice  M.  de  Lampulet 
was  a  philanthropist ;  in  theory  he  was  a  musician . 
His  favourite  recreation  was  to  stand  for  hours  at 
a  time  holding  his  violin,  sweeping  the  bow  to 
and  fro  at  a  distance  of  an  inch  from  the  strings, 
an  expression  of  ecstasy  upon  his  face.  This  he 
called  "  playing  mentally."  The  days  were  to 
come  when  Garat  was  to  "  sing  mentally."  Did 
he,  in  those  sadder  years,  remember  the  old 
eccentric  of   Saint-Ouen  ? 

Mile,  du  Hamel  had  two  nieces,  one  of  whom, 
Mile,  de  Flavigny,  was  an  excellent  pianist.     Little 

189 


Pierre  Garat 

Mme.  de  Chastenay  l  was  a  frequent  caller,  and 
was  herself  both  singer  and  pianist. 

Introduced  by  Mile,  du  Hamel,  and  assisted  by 
this  little  company  of  artists  and  amateurs,  which 
was  increased  by  Adrien  Boieldieu,  a  young  pianist 
of  considerable  local  repute,  the  new-comers  gave 
their  first  public  concert  on  the  ioth  of  January. 
Tickets  were  obtainable  from  Citizen  Perrier,  lute- 
player,  in  the  Rue  des  Carmes,  at  the  price  of 
three  francs.  Garat  was  of  course  the  star  per- 
former ;  young  Boieldieu  was  his  accompanist  and 
solo  pianist. 

The  Journal  de  Rouen  for  the  i  ith  of  January 
contained  an  enthusiastic  notice  of  the  concert : 
'  We  shall  count,  in  future,  with  a  confidence 
highly  satisfactory  to  ourselves,  upon  the  talent 
of  Citizen  Garat.  Compass,  clarity,  and  flexibility 
in  a  voice  of  the  most  beautiful  tone  were  the 
principal  qualities  which  struck  the  connoisseurs, 
and  the  impression  experienced  by  those  who  have 
heard  this  young  virtuoso  is  not  to  be  communi- 
cated to  those  who  have  so  far  been  deprived  of 
that  pleasure.  A  proper  feeling  of  gratitude  on 
the  part  of  Citizen  Garat,  inspired  by  the  enthu- 
siasm of  his  audience,  procured  for  us  the  pleasure 
of  hearing  two  charming  French  romances  which 
were  not  on  the  programme.  The  second,  to  the 
very  last  line,  appeared  to  us  to  justify  the  opinion 

1  Then  a  brilliant  girl  of  twenty-one  ;  "  Madame  "  was  a  courtesy 
title;  she  was  technically  a  canoness. 

190 


ADRIKX    UOIELDIEl" 
From  an  engraving. 


To  face  p.  igo. 


Music  and  the  Terror 

which  was  immediately  formed  of  the  abilities  of 
Citizen  Garat." 

A  second  concert  was  arranged  for  the  21st  of 
January  :  the  artists  Garat,  Rode,  Boi'eldieu,  and 
Delmare,  the  singer  ;  the  hall,  as  before,  that  of 
the   ci-devant   consuls   of   the   city. 

During  the  afternoon  the  news  arrived  of  the 
King's  execution.     Half  Rouen  was  a  stricken  city. 

Our  friends  were  in  a  dilemma.  Established  in 
life,  as  some  of  them  were,  by  the  kindness  of  the 
royal  family  ;  sincerely  attached  to  the  Queen  ; 
haters  of  the  Parisian  democracy,  if  not  all  enthu- 
siastic monarchists,  it  was  more  than  they  could 
do  to  sing  upon  this  day  of  mourning.  The  risk 
of  postponement  was  by  no  means  negligible,  even 
in  Rouen,  but  they  decided  to  incur  it.  A  few 
hours  before  the  time  fixed  for  the  concert 
the  performance  was  postponed  until  the  28th, 
the  sudden  illness  of  Rode  being  given  as  the 
reason  of  postponement. 

On  the  28th  Garat  sang  an  Italian  aria  by  Prati, 
an  aria  by  Gluck,  and  the  first  scene  of  the  latter's 
Orfeo;  Delmare  sang  an  aria  from  Rameau's 
Dardanus;  Rode  played  a  symphony  by  Haydn 
and  two  pieces  by  Viotti ;  Boi'eldieu  played  a 
sonata  and  a  potpourri  of  his  own  composition. 

In  the  meantime  the  Royalist  society  of  Rouen, 
unable  but  courageously  eager  to  shake  off  the 
imminent   horror   of   the   times,   sought   distraction 

191 


Pierre  Garat 

more  industriously  than  ever.  Further  concerts 
followed  on  the  18th  and  27th  of  February.  These 
were  held  in  the  hall  of  the  library  of  the  Grey- 
friars'  convent,  from  which  the  monks  had  been 
expelled.  At  the  first  Delmare  again  assisted. 
Garat  sang  fragments  by  Gluck,  Cimarosa,  Sarti, 
Paisiello,  and  Rameau  ;  Rode  played  morceaux  by 
Viotti  and  Sterkel,  Boieldieu  a  concerto  and  sonata 
of  his  own.  At  the  second  concert  Rode,  Garat, 
and  Boieldieu  executed  a  potpourri,  in  those  days 
a  much -beloved  form  of  composition. 

The  next  concert  was  announced  for  March  1  ith. 
It  was  to  be  held  in  one  of  the  halls  of  the  old 
Chambre  des  Comptes.  The  friends  had  been 
forced  to  migrate  from  the  Cordeliers.  It  is 
probable  that  the  Jacobins  found  their  patriotism 
too  lukewarm.  For  there  were,  of  course,  Jacobins 
in  Rouen,  and  their  power  was  increasing.  Small 
as  were  their  numbers,  they  were  so  dreaded  that 
even  among  Garat's  audiences  many  who  until 
lately  had  worn  the  silken  breeches,  the 
embroidered  waistcoat,  the  laced  hat  and  coat, 
the  lawn  and  lace  and  powder  of  the  ancien  regime, 
were  now  careful  to  appear  in  grotesque,  flapping 
pantalons,  their  feet  in  sabots,  the  carmagnole  re- 
placing the  courtier's  coat,  the  tricolor  scarf  the 
embroidered  waistcoat,  and  a  couple  of  pistols  and 
rapier.  Garat,  now  as  always,  absolutely  and 
implacably  scorned  such  concessions.  Had  he 
been   a    leader   among   Jacobins   his   elegance   had 

192 


Music  and  the   Terror 

been  forgiven  him ;  being  an  artist,  a  ci-devant 
courtier,  whose  politics  were  at  least  suspect,  his 
defiance  of  opinion  was  highly  displeasing  to  the 
shaggy   patriots. 

Whatever  the  source  of  the  rumour,  it  was 
whispered  that  the  concert  of  the  i  ith  would  be 
proscribed.  Fearing,  perhaps,  to  involve  their 
hearers,  our  musicians  took  energetic  measures. 
In  the  Journal  de  Rouen  they  published  a  state- 
ment that  the  necessary  precautions  would  be  taken 
to  ensure  public  tranquillity ;  and  in  fact  the 
concert  was  held,  and  no  disturbance  occurred. 
The  measures  taken  were  both  a  bribe  and  a  blind. 
Garat  and  Rode,  accompanied  by  Mile.  Roussellois, 
prima  donna  of  the  Rouen  theatre,  gave  a  concert 
in  the  hall  of  the  Friends  of  Equality,  the  takings 
being  contributed  toward  the  equipment  of  the 
volunteers  of  the  department. 

Mile.  Roussellois,  be  it  said  in  passing,  the 
mother  of  Mme.  Fay  and  the  grandmother  of 
Leontme  Fay,  was  long  the  idol  of  the  Rouen 
public.  She  was  an  amusing  and  eccentric  person, 
whose  ruling  passion  was  angling.  She  was  by 
no  means  regular  at  rehearsals,  but  might  often 
be  found  on  the  banks  of  the  Seine,  or  literally 
in  its  waters,  her  petticoats  girt  to  the  waist,  thigh- 
deep  in  the  current,  rod  in  hand. 

After  this  proof  of  patriotism  our  friends  took 
heart,  notwithstanding  the  abolition  of  worship  and 

193  N 


Pierre  Garat 

the  closing  of  the  churches,  to  give  a  "  grand 
spiritual  concert  "  at  the  Bureau  des  Finances.  The 
occasion  was  the  29th  of  March  in  Easter  Week  ; 
and  again  Mile.  Roussellois  assisted.  This  concert 
was  a  triumphant  success.  Garat  gave  the  Stabat 
Mater  of  Pergolesi,  and  with  Mile.  Roussellois 
sang  the  famous  duet  from  Orfeo.  On  the  8th 
of  April  the  two  singers  gave  another  concert  for 
the  benefit  of  Boieldieu.  On  the  following  day  the 
municipality  of  Rouen  was  to  make  public  pro- 
clamation, on  the  Champ-de-Mars,  that  Dumouriez 
was  a  traitor  to  his  country.  The  times  were 
critical  ;  fearing  to  be  suspected  of  singing  re- 
actionary songs,  Garat  had  the  words  of  his 
Italian  arias  translated  and  distributed  among  the 
audience. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Punto  came  to 
Rouen :  the  celebrated  cornet  who  led  the 
orchestra  of  the  Varietes  Amusantes  in  Paris.  He 
always  played  upon  a  silver  cornet,  professing  that 
the  vibrations  of  silver  were  purer  than  those  of 
brass.  His  name  was  actually  Jean  Wengel  Stich. 
An  old  friend  of  both  singer  and  violinist,  he  at 
once  made  one  of  their  circle.  Punto  and  Rode 
especially  frequented  the  Chastenay  household, 
practising  long  mornings  with  the  little  canoness, 
who  presently  appeared  at  their  concerts,  although 
her  name,  of  course,  would  not  be  advertised.  Her 
piano  was  in  the  salon  of  her  uncle  d'Herbouville. 

194 


t^jf 


f     v? 


MME.    VICTORINE    DE    CHASTEN  AY. 


Music  and  the  Terror 

Garat  would  seem  to  have  accompanied  them  at 
times  ;  Henri  de  Chastenay,  a  tolerable  singer, 
began  to  sing  "  in  the  manner  of  Garat,"  much 
to  the  elder  man's  amusement.  Little  Mme. 
Victorine  perhaps  saw  less  of  the  darling  of  her 
sex,  his  reputation  hardly  fitting  him  for  the 
society  of  young  unmarried  women.  They  were 
intimates,  of  course,  of  the  household  of  Mile,  du 
Hamel ;  and  of  other  hostesses  of  the  time  we 
must  mention  Mme.  du  Bourg,  to  whose  salon 
every  visitor  to  Rouen  found  his  way.  Such 
visitors  were  many,  before  the  Terror.  They 
consisted  partly  of  aristocrats  quietly  leaving  the 
country,  and  partly  of  those  who  feared,  by 
emigration,  to  lose  their  estates  for  ever,  and  there- 
fore sought  to  remain  in  hiding  until  more  tranquil 
times. 

Mme.  du  Bourg,  who  presented  a  combination 
of  wit,  sociability,  gaiety,  and  devoutness  charac- 
teristic of  her  countrywomen,  had  apartments  in 
the  house  of  her  cousins,  M.  and  Mme.  de  la 
Pallu.  A  member  of  her  circle  was  Boisard  the 
poet,  whose  latter  years  were  passed  in  devoted 
attendance  upon  Mme.  de  Fontette,  once  his  mis- 
tress, now  stricken  with  dumbness.  Boisard  was 
her  mouthpiece  ;  he  read  the  movement  of  her  lips, 
he  spoke  for  her,  replied  to  her,  and  thanks  to 
his  wit  and  charm  her  salon  was  always  well 
attended.  As  the  spring  came  on  the  members 
of  this  little  society  made  up  water-parties  on  the 

195 


Pierre  Garat 

Seine,  setting  out  in  the  large,  covered  vessels 
then  plentiful  in  the  port  of  Rouen.  The  amuse- 
ments of  this  circle  were  innocent  enough  :  song, 
instrumental  music,  cards,  verse-writing,  charades, 
and  the  translation  of  the  classics.  Punto  at  once 
became  a  member  of  this  circle,  Mme.  de 
Chastenay  arranging  his  compositions  for  piano 
and  concert,  and  occasionally  accompanying  him 
in  public.  Garat  in  the  meantime  replenished  his 
pockets  by  taking  pupils,  three  of  whom  often  sang 
with  him,  while  one,  Mme.  Grecourt,  gave  concerts 
of  her  own. 

Further  concerts  were  given  by  Garat,  Rode, 
and  Boi'eldieu,  now  assisted  by  Punto,  on  the  1 3th 
May  and  the  10th  June,  while  on  the  20th  June 
they  gave  an  evening  concert  in  the  ancient  convent 
of  Saint-Louis,  for  the  benefit  of  Broche  the 
organist,   who  was   Boieldieu's   master. 

Broche,  as  a  Rouen  worthy,  merits  a  brief 
mention.  He  was  the  son  of  a  beadle,  who, 
having  studied  the  clavichord  at  home,  was  for 
a  time  organist  at  Lyons,  then  studied  in  Bologna, 
and  returning  to  Rouen,  after  an  absence  of  five 
years,  became  organist  to  the  cathedral,  a  place 
which  he  retained  until  the  closing  of  the  churches. 
His  character  was  harsh  and  disagreeable,  but  his 
powers  of  execution  and  improvization  were  so 
remarkable  that  the  Due  de  Bouillon  appointed 
him  his  clavichord-player.  One  day,  we  are  told, 
the   Chevalier   Saint-Georges  and   Punto  bore  him 

196 


Music  and  the  Terror 

a  challenge,  as  a  result  of  which  he  spent  an  hour 
and  a  half  at  the  clavichord,  improvising  upon  a 
motif  of  three  notes,  without  once  repeating  him- 
self or  departing  from  his  subject,  and,  what  is 
more  remarkable,  continuing  to  charm  his  hearers. 
As  a  composer  he  was  equally  noted  in  his  day 
for  his  Masses  and  his  drinking  songs.  He  him- 
self was  a  faithful  client  of  the  Chawdron,  a  cabaret 
on  the  old  market-place,  in  whose  honour  one  of 
his  Bacchic  songs  was  written,  and  he  considered 
that  no  poor  drinker  could  be  a  good  musician. 

The  next  concert  was  a  "  benefit  "  performance 
in  favour  of  Garat,  Rode,  and  Punto.  It  was 
arranged  for  June  29th,  postponed,  as  one  of 
the  three  was  ill,  until  July  9th,  and  again  post- 
poned on  account  of  the  heat,  or  so  the  public 
notices  declared.  The  pretext  given  may  well  have 
been  the  true  one;  for  the  summer  of  1793  was 
peculiarly  hot.  It  was  eventually  given  on  the 
23rd,  in  the  hall  of  the  old  Bureau  des  Finances. 
Two  new  performers  appeared  at  this  concert, 
Kreutzer  and  Rethaller,  both  refugees  from  Paris. 
Rethaller  had  played  the  clarionette  in  the  band  of 
the  Bodyguard  of  Louis  XVI.  A  husband  and 
father,  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  employment  at 
the  Rouen  theatre,  but  was  for  a  time  imprisoned 
with  his  wife  and   children. 

On  the  1  3th  of  August  a  concert  was  given  by 
Garat,  Rode,  Eunto,  Boieldieu,  and  Hermann,  the 
clavichord-player.      The    price    of    the    seats    was 

197 


Pierre  Garat 

raised  to  five  livres,  perhaps  because  the  little 
company  was  growing  more  numerous. 

It  is  usual  to  find  at  least  two  versions  of  most 
of  the  incidents  of  Garat's  life.  The  story  of  this 
concert  is  no  exception.  The  more  likely  legend 
relates  that  Garat,  amid  the  usual  scenes  of  enthu- 
siasm, had  sung  an  aria  from  Piccini's  Atys,  another 
by  Cimarosa,  and  a  third  by  Zingarelli.  He  was 
then  singing  a  romance  of  Boi'eldieu's  composi- 
tion, the  latter  accompanying  him,  when  certain 
of  his  hearers  clamoured  for  the  Carmagnole .  Such 
a  request  was  common  enough  in  the  theatre  in 
those  days,  and  might  have  been  made  at  a 
concert.  Garat,  the  story  runs,  refused  to  sing 
the  abominable  thing,  Boieldieu  violently  closed 
his  piano,  and  both  left  the  hall.  A  warrant  was 
issued  the  same  evening ;  Boieldieu  fled,  but 
Garat  was  arrested. 

The  second  version  of  the  legend  is  still  more 
improbable,  and  comes  from  a  suspect  source.  It 
represents  Garat  tremulously  obeying,  while 
Boieldieu  throws  his  instrument  across  the  hall ; 
a  remarkable  feat  of  strength. 

•We  know  that  Garat  was  the  last  person  to 
allow  his  audience  to  bully  him.  His  courage 
was  never  in  question ;  moreover,  the  cause  of 
his  arrest  was  in  no  way  connected  with  his 
concerts.  Probably  the  truth  is  that  some  time 
before  Garat's  arrest  the  two  artists  were  requested, 
by  that  section  of  the  public  which  was  irritated 

198 


Music  and  the  Terror 

by  his  dress  and  manner,  to  sing  the  Carmagnole, 
and  that  they  refused. 

Garat  had  given  offence  to  the  "  pure  patriots  " 
almost  immediately  after  his  arrival  in  Rouen.  Not 
only  did  he  retain  the  garments  and  the  air  of 
the  ci-devant  Court ;  he  did  not  conceal  his 
sympathy  for  the  victims  of  what  was  known  as 
"  the  affair  of  the  Red  Sea."  Shortly  before  he  left 
Paris  Leclerc  and  Aumont  had  drawn  up  a  mani- 
festo in  favour  of  the  imprisoned  King.  Forty 
persons  were  arrested  and  several  guillotined  on 
a  charge  of  having  signed  this  document.  It  was 
not  known,  at  first,  how  many  or  who  would  be 
inculpated ;  probably  the  affair  was  not  carried 
to  its  logical  end.  It  was  not  certain  that  Garat 
had  not  signed  ;  in  any  case  his  sympathies  were 
with  the  unhappy  King. 

Rouen  had  for  long  been  a  city  of  refuge  and 
a  haven  of  peace.  The  city  was  therefore  suspect 
in  the  eyes  of  the  Terrorists  of  Paris.  That  it 
escaped,  eventually,  as  lightly  as  it  did  was  due 
not  merely  to  the  accident  of  Robespierre's  fall. 
Wherever  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety  sent  its 
"  representatives  on  mission,"  they  were  forced  to 
rely  very  largely  upon  the  local  Jacobin  forces. 
Here  and  there,  where  a  city  had  openly  opposed 
the  Revolution,  they  were  supported  by  the  Revo- 
lutionary Army ;  but  they  were,  as  a  rule, 
dependent    upon    the   local   forces    of   Jacobinism. 

199 


Pierre  Garat 

Many  of  these  representatives  were  peaceable  men, 
who  left  the  capital  in  fear  and  trembling.  The 
dread  Committee  bade  them  avenge  the  Revolu- 
tion in  blood.  They  had  to  save,  not  only  their 
own  necks,  but  those  of  their  wives  and  children. 
When  they  found  a  city  divided,  with  a  half -patriot, 
half -criminal  population  to  applaud  and  collabo- 
rate in  every  panic-stricken  deed  of  blood,  the 
sanctions  of  every-day  life  were  dissolved ;  the 
commands  of  his  superiors,  the  applause  of  his 
colleagues  and  inferiors,  and  the  feeling  that  he 
must  strike  or  be  stricken,  was  enough  to  make 
a  monster  of  many  a  weak  and  inoffensive 
bourgeois.  Sometimes  they  left  Paris  smarting, 
whose  blood  had  always  been  bitter  with  envy, 
the  sense  of  failure,  and  a  greedy  jealousy ; 
hating  from  boyhood  the  world  that  had  no  place 
for  them,  they  hated  in  manhood  the  opponents 
of  the  Revolution  that  promised  them  power  and 
recognition.  The  Latin  has  always  been  easily 
gulled  by  words.  Add  to  such  embittered  hatred 
a  hysterical  sense  of  duty,  a  sense  of  "  the  country 
in  danger,"  a  patriotism  that  sees  a  traitor  in  every 
man  not  a  real  or  pretended  fanatic  ;  add,  too, 
the  morbid,  exacerbated  hatred  of  physical  imper- 
fection, of  ugliness  and  stupidity,  disease  and 
degeneracy,  which  none  but  the  bourgeois  can  feci 
in  its  utmost  virulence,  because  none  has  suffered 
from  them,  been  threatened,  swamped,  opposed  by 
them     as     he — give    such    men    command    of    a 

200 


Music  and  the  Terror 

mob  of  brigands,  ex-galley  slaves,  deserters,  and 
criminals  whom  they  believe  to  be  "  patriots,"  and 
the  provincial  Terror  is  half  explained. 

In  Rouen  the  criminal  mob  was  absent.  Public 
opinion,  on  the  whole,  was  royalist,  or  constitu- 
tional .  The  Jacobins  were  few  ;  in  a  city  of  more 
than  100,000  inhabitants  their  power  was  not 
extreme. 

The  result  was  a  world  of  the  grimmest  comedy. 
Men  held  posts  under  the  Committee  of  Public 
Safety  to  avoid  suspicion  ;  they  adopted  a  trucu- 
lent and  ogre-like  manner  for  the  same  reason, 
and  those  who  had  heart  to  laugh  and  eyes  to  see 
enjoyed  many  a  comedy  of  sheep  in  wolves' 
clothing,  intensely  fearing  one  another,  yet  in  fact 
perfectly  good-hearted  people,  and  as  far  as  they 
dared  be  harmless. 

The  lust  of  blood  is  in  all  of  us,  to  awaken 
when  called  upon,  to  leap  when  the  leash  of  social 
restraint  is  snapped.  We  should  like  to  deny  it, 
but  the  fact  remains  ;  else  it  were  impossible  to 
recruit  or  use  an  army,  to  form  a  hunt,  or  to  lynch 
a  negro.  But  the  utter  abandonment  of  the  com- 
missaries to  that  dark  ancestral  passion  depended 
upon  two  factors — approval  or  command  from 
above,  approval  and  support  from  below.  In  each 
factor  fear  played  its  part,  and  the  fear  of  those 
below  was  the  keenest. 

The  people  of  Rouen  were  not  Jacobins  ;  more, 
they  refused  to  dance  to  the  piping  of  the  Jacobins. 

201 


Pierre  Garat 

Attempts  were  made  to  arouse  them,  but  in  vain. 
For  this  reason,  and  not  primarily  because  the 
"  representatives  on  mission  "  in  Rouen  were  of 
different  stuff  from  their  fellows,  the  Terror  dealt 
almost  kindly  with  the  Norman  capital. 

Where  else  could  Garat  have  remained  so  long 
at  large — making  no  secret  of  his  hatred  of  mob 
rule,  and  exhaling  the  very  atmosphere  of 
Versailles  ? 

He  was  not  so  to  remain  much  longer.  On  the 
29th  of  August  a  Committee  of  Public  Safety  was 
installed  in  Rouen  ;  Louchet  and  Legendre  were 
sent  thither  as  "  representatives  of  the  people." 
At  once  the  small  Jacobin  party  of  Rouen  was  in 
power ;  moderate  men  assumed  the  mask  of 
Jacobins  ;  royalists  even  increased  the  "  republican- 
ism "  of  their  attire  ;  the  social  life  of  the  city 
was  suddenly  extinguished. 

One  of  the  first  measures  taken  by  the  Rouen 
Committee  was  a  notice,  issued  on  the  8th  Sep- 
tember, to  the  effect  that  all  strangers  must 
within  fourteen  days  leave  the  territory  of  the 
Commune. 

Garat  ignored  this  order  :  either  from  arrogance 
or  because  he  had  nowhere  to  go.  In  the  meantime 
Rode  was  taken  by  the  army  as  a  bandsman,  but 
was  enabled,  by  the  kindly  offices  of  a  "  repre- 
sentative," to  return  ;  Punto,  enrolled  in  the 
National  Guard,  was  for  ever  on  patrol  duty.  The 
days  of  concerts  were  over.     That  Garat  escaped 

202 


Music  and  the  Terror 

enrolment  was  due  perhaps  to  the  fact  that  one  of 
his  hands  was  crippled  ;  so  much  so  that  his  accom- 
paniments, when  he  played  them  himself,  consisted 
merely  of  chords  struck  with  the  one  sound 
hand. 

Then  came  the  "  law  of  suspects,"  and  the 
prisons  began  to  fill.  Rouen  was  no  longer 
sanctuary,  but  a  trap.  Fortunately  Lambert,  presi- 
dent of  the  Committee  of  Surveillance,  was  merely 
a  sincere  patriot,  and  a  kindly  man  ;  his  sister 
also,  a  spinster  of  forty-five,  detested  injustice  and 
persecution  as  honestly  as  she  detested  a  traitor. 
Many  a  family  of  ruined  aristocrats  was  saved  by 
Lambert  and  his  like  ;  men  who  had  the  wit  to 
know  who  could  and  who  would  not  harm  the 
State  ;  and  many  an  aristocrat  was  saved  the  risk 
of  dangerous  appearances  upon  guard  by  the  kind- 
ness of  artisan  neighbours  who  acted  as  substi- 
tutes. If  the  history  of  the  Revolution  in  Paris 
makes  us  sigh  for  humanity,  the  history  of  the 
Terror  in  some  of  the  provincial  capitals  is  the 
best  antidote  to  despair.  We  must  remember  that 
Paris  was  the  objective  of  all  the  outlaws,  brigands, 
broken  men  and  criminals  of  France,  while  from 
Rouen  the  more  hot-headed  energumens  were 
gradually  drained  by  the  army. 

None  the  less,  the  prisons  filled ;  filled  and 
overflowed,  so  that  abbeys,  convents,  and  any  suit- 
able buildings  in  the  hands  of  the  Nation  were 
requisitioned  to  supplement  them. 

203 


Pierre  Garat 

Garat's  turn  was  at  hand.  On  the  ist  of 
Frimaire  the  police  entered  his  rooms,  searched 
them,  and  put  him  under  arrest,  in  pursuance  of 
a  municipal  resolution  of  the  16th  of  November. 
At  first,  the  prisons  being  filled  faster  than  they 
were  created,  our  singer  was  merely  imprisoned 
in  his  apartments. 

He  was  presently  removed  to  the  priory  of  Saint- 
L6,  but  seven  days  later  was  transferred  to  the 
abbey  of  Saint -Yon.  What  he  thought  of  the 
safety  of  his  head  we  do  not  know  ;  he  was  not 
in  any  case  one  to  wear  his  heart  on  his  sleeve. 
He  was  at  all  events  an  acquisition  to  the  prisoners. 
"  His  talents,  his  agreeable  nature  and  his  happy 
character  made  him  the  delight  of  the  place." 

Actually  the  greater  number  of  those  imprisoned 
were  eventually  released  ;  but  it  is  likely  that  few 
expected  release.  The  arrival  of  Lacroix  in  Rouen 
must  have  been  sufficiently  alarming.  The  lieu- 
tenant of  Danton,  he  appeared  with  all  the  blatant 
display  of  the  typical  commissary,  wearing  the  red 
bonnet,  seated  in  a  coach  drawn  by  six  horses. 
Garat,  when  he  heard  of  the  cavalcade,  may  well 
have  recalled  the  day  when  six  horses  from  the 
royal  stables  drew  him  in  triumph  to  Versailles. 

Berry,  Conservator  of  Rouen,  a  kindly  adven- 
turer who  went  daily  to  the  Jacobins  and  in  secret 
helped  many  a  gentle  unfortunate,  was  an  old  friend 
of  the  dread  Lacroix,  and  hastened  to  visit  him. 
"  Friend,"     said    the    commissary,    "  when    I    see 

204 


"S3    *-' 


Music  and  the  Terror 

myself  in  the  glass  I  say  to  myself :  *  What  a 
scoundrel  you  are  !  '  All  the  same,  I  mean  to 
make  myself  spoken  of ;  I  shall  be  guillotined 
before  a  fortnight  is  up,  for  certain,  but  remember 
Lacroix  will  make  himself  spoken  of  before  he 
dies." 

But  this  is  to  anticipate  ;  Lacroix  did  not  lose 
his  head  until  the  April  of   1794. 

On  the  2 1st  Thermidor  of  the  year  II  a  list 
of  the  five  hundred  prisoners  of  Saint-Yon  was 
drawn  up.  We  find  our  singer  inscribed  as 
No.    172  :— 

"  Garat,  Pierre-Jean,  thirty  years,  artist,  domi- 
ciled in  Rouen  for  nineteen  months. — No  income. 
— Arrested  end  of  Brumaire  year  II.  Pretext: 
Stranger,  suspect. — Order  of  the  Committee  of 
Surveillance  of  Rouen." 

In  another  list — there  are  always  two  versions 
to  choose  from — we  find  him  qualified  as 
"  Musician,  35,  rue  Grand-Pont,  entered  Yon 
the    22  Frimaire." 

Life  in  prison,  apart  from  the  ever-present 
fear,  which  at  least  was  not  aggravated  by  soli- 
tude, was  by  no  means  insupportable.  The  old 
grey  buildings,  reeking  with  damp  and  alkaline 
mould,  were  no  cheerful  residence  ;  and  the  silence 
of  a  dungeon  would  to  some  have  been  prefer- 
able to  the  cries  and  revolutionary  choruses  of 
the  National  Guards  on  duty  about  the  prisons. 
However,  there  was  no  solitary  confinement ;    the 

205 


Pierre  Garat 

courts  and  paddocks  of  the  abbey  were  open  for 
exercise,  for  several  hours  in  the  day ;  and  at 
all  times  the  prisoners  seem  to  have  enjoyed  a 
large  measure  of  personal  freedom.  Meals  were 
taken  in  the  great  refectory,  where  there  were 
twenty-four  tables. 

These  meals,  unhappily  for  Garat,  were  provided 
at  the  prisoners'  expense.  He  himself  ate  at  table 
No.  i  with  three  companions  :  a  father  and  son, 
by  name  Midy,  and  a  farmer,  Betille,  whose  neigh- 
bours had  denounced  him  as  an  aristocrat. 

For  a  generation  Garat  set  the  fashion  in  song 
and  in  dress  ;  his  name,  during  his  lifetime,  was 
a  household  word  ;  yet  in  one  sense  he  remains 
a  mythical  figure  ;  apart  from  his  songs  we  have 
barely  a  line  of  his  writing,  and  of  his  speech  hardly 
a  hundred  words  have  been  preserved.  Here— in 
respect  of  what? — of  his  dinners  in  prison  ! — we  at 
least  obtain  a  testimonial  of  the  real  man.  Young 
remarked,  upon  seeing  the  pigsties  of  Beam,  that 
before  a  man  thinks  of  his  pig's  comfort  his  own 
must  be  well  assured.  We  might  as  truly  say 
that  when,  in  a  time  of  war  and  revolution,  while 
no  man's  life  is  worth  a  day's  purchase,  men  con- 
cern themselves  with  the  meals  of  a  friend  who  is 
fifty  miles  away,  that  friend  has  a  rare  genius 
for  attracting  love.  That  women  loved  Garat  is 
nothing  ;  women  of  a  certain  type  will  always  love 
a  popular  idol.  But  in  spite  of  a  lifelong  pose, 
in    spite    of    impudence    and    affectation,    the    men 

206 


Music  and  the  Terror 

who  knew  him  as  he  was  regarded  him  with  sincere 
affection,  did  not  forget  him  when  their  own  world 
was  in  ruins,  and  loyally  co-operated  to  relieve 
him  when  their  own  lives  were  far  from  secure. 
This  is  a  piece  of  definite  knowledge. 

To  be  literal  :  our  singer  had  to  starve  or  depend 
on  charity.  He  wrote  to  Rode,  then  a  "  volunteer  " 
in  the  Dordogne  regiment,  in  garrison  at  Havre. 
Rode  contrived  to  return  for  the  occasion,  and  with 
the  aid  of  Boi'eldieu  proceeded  to  organize  a 
concert.  The  tickets  were  sold  at  the  old  price 
of  three  livres,  by  Citizen  Briere,  Rue  Grand-Pont, 
and  Citizen  Perrier,  lute-player,  Rue  des  Carmes  ; 
the  concert  was  held  in  the  hall  of  the  Bureau  des 
Finances.  Cardon,  a  pupil  of  Rode's,  commenced 
with  a  morceau  by  Haydn  ;  Boi'eldieu  played  one 
of  his  own  sonatas  ;  while  Delmare  and  Desfoss^s 
sang. 

The  occasion  was  by  no  means  without  risk  to 
the  performers.  These  also  encountered  certain 
obstacles.  A  letter  is  extant  written  by  Rode  to 
the  Commune  of  Rouen,  which  is  worth  quoting  : — 

"  Liberty,  Equality. 

"  Rouen,  the  21st  Ventose,  the  year  2nd 
of  the  French  Republic.  One  and 
Indivisible.. 

"  Not  knowing  that  I  ought  to  have  applied 
to  the  Commune  for  authorization  to  give  a  concert, 

207 


Pierre  Garat 

I  presented  a  petition  to  the  administrators  of  the 
district,  and  having  relied  upon  them  I  announced 
the  concert  for  to-day,  when,  going  thither  a 
second  time  to  ask  permission  to  remove  200 
chairs  from  the  Temple  of  Reason  [otherwise 
Rouen  Cathedral]  I  was  told  that  I  must  apply 
to  the  Commune  ;  for  which  reason  I  address  this 
petition  to  thee,  President,  persuaded  as  I  am  that 
the  arts,  being  children  of  liberty,  should  be 
encouraged  by  those  who  maintain  the  latter.  As 
for  me  I  come  from  defending  her  against  the 
brigands  of  La  Vendue  and  am  profiting  by  the 
permission  given  me  to  leave  the  batallion  for  the 
time  being  to  make  use  of  my  talents.  I  there- 
fore beg  thee  to  authorize  my  concert  and  to  allow 
me  to  procure  the  200  chairs  which  I  require. 
I  count  on  the  justice  due  to  a  republican 
soldier. 

"  Health  and  fraternity. 

"P.  Rode." 

Was  Rode  in  fact  a  "republican  soldier"? 
Mme.  de  Chastenay  informs  us  that  he  was  im- 
pressed as  a  clarinette,  but  was  able  eventually  to 
evade  service,  perhaps  to  leave  it  before  his  time 
had  expired.  Republican  or  not,  it  needed  some 
courage  to  give  a  concert  whose  object,  if  not 
avowed,  was  to  supply  a  Royalist  prisoner  with 
funds. 

No  sooner  was  the  concert  over  than  Rode  placed 

208 


Music  and  the  Terror 

the  takings  in  Garat's  hands.  It  was  time;  he 
owed  the  Nation  no  less  than  £6  for  feeding  him  ! 
He  had  then  been  sixty-five  days  in  prison. 

That  he  made  haste  to  pay  his  host  the  Nation 
we  know  from  a  receipt,  dated  the  17th  of 
Messidor.  On  the  back  of  this  receipt  is  a  protest 
in  Garat's  hand  : — 

"  I  am  an  artist  and  have  no  means  of  living 
other  than  by  my  talent.  I  have  been  deprived 
of  my  liberty  for  eight  months  ;  for  a  long  time 
already  I  have  been  at  my  wits'  end  to  live  here 
and  pay  the  necessary  expenses  ;  in  other  words, 
I  do  not  see  that  I  can  pay  what  is  asked  of  me  — 
Garat."  His  signature  is  followed  by  a  Masonic 
sign. 

It  was  a  strange  society  that  lived  in  these  old 
conventual  buildings.  Men,  women,  children; 
nobles,  ecclesiastics,  tradesmen,  farmers  ;  detained 
as  emigres,  as  suspects,  as  aristocrats  ;  the  victims 
of  poverty,  folly,  misfortune,  or  the  cupidity  of 
those  who  sought  their  goods.  They  made  them- 
selves some  sort  of  a  life,  as  those  will  whose 
habits  and  conditions  are  similar ;  a  kind  of 
routine  was  followed ;  certain  individuals  were 
accorded  or  claimed  a  kind  of  eminence  ;  a  kind 
of  ceremony  was  observed  in  small  matters  ;  there 
were  games,  common  jokes,  amiable  pleasantries, 
and  new-comers  were  initiated  by  mysteries  or 
courteously   and   ceremoniously    received. 

Whether  our  singer  sang  or  not,  he  at  least  con- 

209  o 


Pierre  Garat 

tinued  to  write  music.  Most  notable  of  the  com- 
positions which  saw  the  light  of  prison  is  The 
Troubadour.  The  French  verse  is  so  indifferent 
that  it  will  hardly  bear  translation  into  English 
rhyme.  However,  the  contents  are  of  interest 
because  they  propose  a  problem  ;  and  if  the  reader 
suffers  in  reading  he  must  remember  that  the 
French  verse  is  if  anything  a  little  worse  : — 


"  O  you  who  know  the  woe  forlorn 

Of  lovers  far  apart,  give  ear ! 
The  pitiful  adventure  mourn 

A  Troubadour  has  suffered  here. 
A  mark  for  darkest  calumny, 

Though  innocent  in  prison  thrown, 
His  talent  and  his  liberty 

Are  lost,  and  oh,  his  dear,  his  own ! 

The  Troubadour  ere  youth  began 

Was  wont  of  love  to  chant  the  lays, 
And  when  at  length  he  stood  a  man 

He  made  the  thing  he  used  to  praise  ; 
And  always  happy  did  he  live 

So  long  as  he  extolled  his  dear ; 
To  sing  of  love,  and  love  to  give, 

Was  this  the  treason  brought  him  here? 

Wh-jn  he  beheld  unrighteous  men 

His  native  country  drawing  nigh 
To  sing  of  war  to  warriors  then 

He  bade  his  dearest  one  good-bye. 
An  aged,  envious  Troubadour 

The  judge's  justice  overthrew, 
And  freedom's  loss  he  must  endure 

Who  sang  of  freedom  all  he  knew. 
2IO 


Music  and  the  Terror 

Far  from  his  kin,  far  from  his  dear 

The  Troubadour  for  ay  complains, 
For  having  sung  thro'  every  year 

Is  now  no  solace  to  his  pains. 
Oh,  now  at  least  no  envy  bear 

The  Troubadour  whose  voice  is  lost ! 
But  give  him  back  at  least  his  fair ! 

Shall  he,  now  dumb,  in  love  be  crost  ? 

For  ever  from  his  love  removed, 

No  more  of  her  to  hear  men's  speech  : 
Oh,  if  at  last  her  voice  beloved 

His  prison  might  in  solace  reach  ? 
Alas  !    for  in  this  place  of  dreads 

No  words  of  love  the  locks  command; 
Oh,  who  will  grudge  the  tears  he  sheds 

Who  always  loved  his  native  land  ? " 

One  at  least  of  Garat's  biographers  has  sought 
to  read  biography  in  this  song.  How  far  we  are 
justified  in  so  doing  is  quickly  evident  upon  a 
close  examination  of  the  lines. 

Whether  he  left  a  mistress  in  Paris  is  uncertain. 
His  affair  with  Mme.  Dugazon  was  a  thing  of 
the  past  ;  and  although  he  was  always  pursued 
we  do  not  know  that  he  was  always  captive.  But 
at  least  his  assertion  that  he  sang  to  warriors  is 
purely  imaginative.  Certain  members  of  the 
fashionable  audiences  of  Rouen  may  indeed  have 
been  called  to  defend  their  country,  but  the  strains 
of  Gluck,  Rameau,  or  Cimarosa  can  hardly  have 
served  to  inspire  them. 

As  for  the  aged  and  envious  troubadour,  he  may 
be  as  mythical  as  Garat's  mission  to  men  of  war. 

211 


Pierre  Garat 

If  real,   who   was   he?     And   was   Garat  truly  his 
victim? 

Actually  Garat's  opinions  and  manners  were 
quite  sufficient  to  earn  imprisonment.  He  was  a 
servant  of  the  ci-devant  Court,  therefore  suspect ; 
he  was  a  stranger,  illegally  remaining  within  the 
Commune.  However,  a  certain  document  relating 
to  the  imprisonment  of  suspects,  preserved  in  the 
Library  of  Rouen,  contains  a  note  to  the  effect 
that  Garat's  arrest  was  due  "  to  Citizen  Gre  .  .  . 
then  on  mission  in  Rouen."  The  latter  part  of 
the  name  has  been  erased. 

One    Grancourt    was    appointed    to    confer    with 
the  commissaries  in  Rouen,   in  respect  of  raising 
a    revolutionary    army.       One    Grenier    was    sent 
thither  by  the  Committee  of  General  Security,   to 
stimulate  the  lukewarm  patriotism  of  the  city.     Two 
of   the  more   sanguinary   Jacobins   of  Rouen   were 
named  Grenet  and  Grandcourt.     As  for  their  being 
troubadours,  many  a  Jacobin  wrote  bad  verses  and 
remembered    when    in     power     to     guillotine    his 
critics.     Some  have  suggested  a  rival  in  the  affec- 
tions   of    Mile.    Roussellois,    who    was    of    course 
credited  with  having  courted  Garat,   and  success- 
fully ;     and   there   is   some   reason   to   believe   that 
she  did  so.     Some  have  declared  for  Gretry  ;    but 
we    have    no    reason    to    think    he    was    in   Rouen. 
Readers  of  Mme.  de  Chastenay  will  probably  vote 
for    the    father    or    lover    or    husband    of    Garat's 
favourite  pupil,  whose  name  was  Grecourt.    Finally, 

212 


Music  and  the  Terror 

the  words  of  the  song  were  not  by  Garat,  but  by 
one  of  his  friends.  Le  Troubadour  and  a  com- 
panion song,  La  Mle  du  Troubadour,  "  romances 
by  Citizen  Garat  imprisoned  in  Saint-Yon,  air  by 
Citizen  Garat,"  were  published  after  his  release 
and  were  extremely  popular. 

As  for  the  loss  of  voice  so  touchingly  lamented, 
it  is  possible  that  our  singer  caught  a  sore 
throat  in  the  draughty  chambers  and  corridors  of 
the  damp  and  ancient  abbey  ;  possible  that  like 
a  prudent  artist  he  was  chary  of  singing  in  such 
surroundings.  If  he  did  lose  his  voice,  however, 
such  loss  was  only  temporary  ;  for  we  hear  that 
his  talent  made  him  the  "  delight  of  the  place." 

Months  went  by  ;  at  length,  almost  unforeseen, 
when  it  seemed  that  the  last  sane  head  in  France 
must  fall,  while  the  decent  manhood  of  the  race  was 
fighting  upon  the  frontiers  and  wondering  at  the 
news  from  Paris  ;  wondering  at  the  strange  "  repre- 
sentatives of  the  People  "  or  "  Commissaries  with 
the  Army  "  who  spied  upon  and  overruled  officers 
experienced  in  the  field — at  length  the  news  ran 
through  France  that  the  Terrorists  were  dead. 

In  Rouen,  a  city  full  of  the  peculiar  Norman 
caution,  the  reaction  was  not  immediate.  One  un- 
happy suspect  was  condemned  and  executed  on 
the  i  ith  of  Thermidor.  The  municipality  waited 
to  divine  the  direction  of  the  political  cat.  Slowly 
reassured,  it  at  length  opened  the  prisons,  and  on 

213 


Pierre  Garat 

the  4th  of  Fructidor  the  Committee  of  General 
Security  passed  a  resolution  releasing  Citizen  Garat 
and  removing  the  seals  from  his  apartments.  On 
the  8th  he  was  free. 

He  owed  the  Nation  not  only  nearly  ten  months 
in  prison,  and  his  life,  but  a  large  number  of 
breakfasts  and  dinners.  On  the  day  after  his 
release  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  municipality  : — 

"  Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity. 

"  To  the  Citizens  the  Mayor  and  Municipal 
Officers  of  the  Revolutionary  Commune  of  Rouen. 

"  Citizens, 

"  The  Citizen  Garat,  musician,  imprisoned 
more  than  nine  months  ago  in  the  prison  of  Yon, 
and  set  at  liberty  the  eighth  of  Fructidor,  asks  for 
the  discharge  of  the  considerable  sum  of  money 
which  is  demanded  of  him  for  his  long  detention  ; 
explaining  that  having  absolutely  lost  his  profes- 
sion, which  he  could  exercise  only  at  liberty,  it 
is  impossible  for  him  to  pay  the  smallest  sum. 

"  Garat. 
"  Health  and  fraternity. 
"  Presented    the     9    Fructidor    year     2    of    the 
republic  one  and  indivisible.     Garat  c/o  Citizeness 
Briere  Rue  Grand  Pont  no.    35  '." 

Whether  his  petition  was  granted  we  do  not 
know.  Probably  he  was  given  time  to  pay.  At 
all  events,  he  was  soon  at  work  again  ;    the  released 

214 


Music  and  the  Terror 

prisoners  resumed  their  old  avocations  ;    those  who 
had  escaped  imprisonment  came  out  of  hiding. 

Almost  at  once  Garat  commenced  to  arrange 
for  fresh  concerts.  He  had  formerly,  it  would 
seem,  lodged  with  Mme.  Briere,  and  returned  to  her 
upon  his  release,  but  almost  at  once  went  to  live, 
as  he  had  lived  before,  with  Boieldieu.  This  we 
know  from  an  official  document  which  contains 
these  words  : — 

"  Leave  with  Citizen  Garat  at  the  house  of 
Citizen  Boieldieu,  Rue  Grand-Pont,  a  copy  of  this 
order,"  etc.  Henceforth,  Rode  being  absent, 
Boieldieu  was  his  chief  collaborator  and  intimate 
friend.  In  these  premises  the  pianist's  mother,  it 
appears,  conducted  a  dressmaking  establishment  or 
magasln  de  modes. 

A  little  later,  but  better  late  than  never,  Rouen 
was  sluggishly  stirred  by  the  reaction,  and  the 
prison  which  had  held  five  hundred  suspects 
received  the  Jacobins  in  their  turn.  On  the  fifth 
day  after  Garat's  release  no  less  than  thirty-two 
were  arrested. 

In  the  following  year  a  banquet  was  held  in 
Rouen,  on  the  anniversary  of  the  9th  of  Thermidor, 
by  the  ex-prisoners  of  Saint-Yon,  the  banqueting- 
hall  in  which  they  celebrated  their  deliverance 
being  their  old  refectory.  Garat,  however,  was 
not  in   France. 

215 


CHAPTER    X 

PASTURES   NEW 

After  release — New  concerts — The  Troubadour — Commercial  and 
social  stagnation — Famine — Garat  and  Rode  decide  to  visit 
England — Difficulty  of  leaving  France — The  voyage — They 
land  in  Hamburg — France  in  Hamburg — Concerts — The  young 
Lafond — Holland,  Belgium,  England — The  return  to  Paris. 

Garat  may  well  have  spent  much  of  his  time  in 
the  prison  of  Saint-Yon  in  efforts  to  write  music  ; 
however,  the  Troubadour  and  its  companion  song 
are  apparently  all  that  have  survived  that  period, 
although  many  an  air  may  there  have  occurred  to 
him,  to  be  written  down  at  a  later  time.  His  know- 
ledge of  music  was  essentially  that  of  a  singer  ; 
if  he  never  read  music  with  ease  it  is  probable  that 
he  never  wrote  it  fluently.  However,  on  leaving 
Saint-Yon  he  formed  a  kind  of  partnership  with 
Boieldieu.  The  latter  was  himself  a  song-writer, 
and  Garat  by  singing  his  songs  could  ensure  their 
immediate  success.  He  in  return  was  Garat's 
accompanist,  and  may  well  have  given  him  technical 
aid  in  the  practice  of  an  unfamiliar  art. 

Boieldieu  had  a  career  to  make  ;    Garat  had  not 
only  to  live  in  the  future,  but  to  pay  for  his  dinners 

216 


Pastures  New 

in  the  past.  The  friends  approached  two  artists 
then  in  the  city — Salentin,  professor  of  music  in 
the  National  Institute  of  Paris,  and  Monnier,  actor 
or  singer  in  the  old  Rouen  theatre,  who  had  been 
a  fellow-prisoner  with  Garat,  and  like  him  may 
have  owed  the  nation  money.  Ten  days  after 
Garat's  liberation  a  concert  was  given  in  the  hall 
of  the  ci-devant  consuls.  The  price  of  entry  was 
again   five   livres. 

His  public  was  in  a  mood  to  be  melted.  For 
the  first  time  in  years,  although  the  future  was 
still  uncertain,  men  and  women  dared  to  breathe, 
to  give  rein  to  the  finer  emotions.  Garat's 
reappearance  was  in  some  sort  a  symbol  of  renewed 
life  and  hope,  of  deliverance  after  peril.  Never, 
perhaps,  was  he  welcomed  with  greater  enthusiasm. 
When  at  length  he  sang  his  Troubadour  his  hearers 
could  not   contain  their  delight. 

By  the  date  of  the  next  concert — the  second 
day  of  the  third  decade  of  Brumaire— Rethaller 
was  released  from  prison,  and  the  programme  was 
completed  by  four  native  artists  :  Schneider, 
cornet;  Griot  and  Mile.  Maleix,  violins;  and 
Lombard,  a  basso.  This  was  the  first  of  a  series 
of  three  concerts,  the  receipts  of  which  were  divided 
among  the  performers. 

Finally  Garat  and  his  accompanist  organized  a 
concert  which  was  to  be  given  in  the  hall  of  the 
Bureau  des  Finances.  A  curious  reluctance  was 
exhibited  by  the  authorities  whose  permission  was 

217 


Pierre  Garat 

required.  The  Committee  of  Instruction  was 
requested  to  authorize  the  concert  and  the  loan  of 
three  hundred  chairs  from  the  Cathedral — formerly 
the  Temple  of  Reason,  but  now  the  Temple  of  the 
Supreme  Being.  The  Committee  replied  that 
neither  it  nor  the  Council -General  of  the  Commune 
could  give  the  desired  permission.  It  has  been 
seen  that  reaction  in  Rouen  was  tardy  ;  perhaps 
the  enthusiasm  exhibited  upon  Garat's  release 
appeared  a  little  "  suspect."  However,  after  much 
delay  permission  was  accorded  and  the  concert  was 
given.     It  was  the  last. 

Perhaps  the  three  hundred  chairs  were  not  filled. 
Perhaps,  having  sought  Rouen  as  a  refuge,  Garat 
longed  to  return  to  a  wider  public,  or  craved  merely 
for  change.  Perhaps  the  vengeance  of  the 
mysterious   Gre still   pursued   him. 

It  is  a  fact,  however,  that  the  Terror  left  France 
exhausted ;  in  a  state  of  commercial  and  social 
collapse.  The  relief  of  the  anti-Terrorist  reaction 
was  fugitive.  A  vast  proportion  of  the  soil  of 
France  had  changed  hands  :  that  is,  had  been 
confiscated  by  the  nation  and  sold  or  given  to 
purchasers  or  informers.  Many  of  the  new  owners 
were  quite  incapable  of  exploiting  their  booty ; 
and  as  the  capable  manhood  of  France  was  at  the 
front  they  could  not,  even  if  competent,  have 
obtained  the  labour  necessary  to  exploitation.  This 
fact,  together  with  the  reckless  issue  of  asslgnats 

218 


Pastures  New 

and  the  law  of  the  maximum,  had  ruined  France  as 
a  productive  country.  Nothing  but  the  grip  of 
starvation  or  an  iron  tyranny  could  restore  her. 
She  was  soon  to  know  both. 

When  the  first  delight  of  reaction  had  gone  by 
the  world  of  Rouen  no  longer  sought  amusement. 
Distraction  was  no  longer  an  antidote,  a  palliative. 
The  danger  was  over,  but  the  world  lay  in  ruins  ; 
anarchy,  if  anything,  was  more  hopeless  for  the 
cessation  of  the  Terror.  Food  was  dearer  than  ever 
and  money  scarcer :  in  many  households  bread 
was  not  eaten  for  months  unless  some  member  of 
the  family  entered  the  "  bread-line  "  to  receive  the 
municipal  ration. 

At  a  happy  moment  Rode,  who  was  still  in 
garrison  at  Havre,  wrote  suggesting  a  visit  to 
London.  Those  emigres  who  had  escaped  early, 
with  some  relics  of  their  fortune,  formed  a  colony 
in  almost  every  foreign  capital,  and  promised  a 
profitable   audience. 

Although  the  Terror  was  ostensibly  over,  the 
anarchy  that  had  served  as  its  basis  was  still  extant. 
It  was  no  easy  matter  to  obtain  permission  to  travel 
in  France  ;  and  those  who  left  the  country  were 
in  danger  of  being  inscribed  as  emigres.  In  any 
village  the  traveller  might  be  held  up  and  con- 
ducted by  an  officious  mob  of  patriots  to  the  guard- 
house or  municipality,  where  he  was  examined  or 
perhaps  imprisoned.  No  traveller  was  safe  without 
a  passport  or  certificate  of  citizenship. 

219 


Pierre  Garat 

Eventually,  the  port  of  Havre  was  reached  with- 
out mishap,  and  the  friends  began  to  inquire  for 
a  vessel  which  should  take  them  as  passengers  to 
an  English  port. 

Leading  France  at  this  time  was  no  easy  matter. 
The  cities  still  swarmed  with  suspicious  and 
malevolent  spies,  informers,  and  officials ;  every 
commune  was,  in  a  sense,  as  autonomous  as  it  was 
anarchical.  However,  the  requisite  papers  were 
at  length  obtained,  and  having  satisfied  themselves 
that  they  were  not  counted  as  emigres  the  two 
friends  embarked. 

For  some  reason  which  is  not  clear— haste  at 
the  last  moment,  or  the  hazard  of  contrary  winds— 
they  proceeded  not  to  London  but  to  Hamburg. 
Whatever  the  reason  of  their  change  of  place,  the 
change  was  fortunate.  The  old  Hansa  town,  so 
full  of  wealthy  merchants,  lovers  and  patrons  of 
music,  was  a  greater  Teutonic  Bordeaux.  More- 
over, it  contained  what  no  city  of  France  was 
ever  to  see  again  :  a  society  of  French  aristocrats 
of  the  ancien  regime,  wearing  their  accustomed 
costume,  bearing  themselves  in  the  manner  of 
Versailles.  To  Garat  it  must  have  been  like  a 
return   to   the   past. 

Here  he  found  old  friends,  not  of  the  Court  only, 
but  compatriots.  It  must  have  been  a  strange 
experience  for  this  penniless,  shipwrecked  musician, 

220 


Pastures  New 

fresh  from  the  haggard  faces,  the  exacerbated 
nerves  of  France,  to  hear  once  more  the  easy, 
happy  diction  and  gaze  upon  the  unlined  features 
of  Frenchmen  to  whom  the  Terror  was  but  an  ugly 
tale.  They  had  their  troubles,  and  found  it  not 
always  easy  to  live,  but  the  long  years  of  horror, 
drawn  out  until  horror  was  scarcely  dreadful,  were 
to  them  a  legend. 

At  the  theatre  two  Frenchmen  were  employed ; 
one,  an  ex-Guardsman  and  a  noble,  as  an  actor  ; 
one,  a  fellow-townsman,  as  prompter.  Another 
compatriot  was  the  Marquise  de  Pelleport,  whose 
life  was  made  a  burden  by  an  outrageous  German 
landlady . 

Of  better -known  figures,  of  nobles  of  the  Court 

and  the  provinces,  the  list  is  too  long  to  recite. 

Beaumarchais  was  here  ;    d'Argens,  damned  by  an 

unlucky  marriage,  and  Rivarol,  no  very  welcome 

addition  to  the  colony;    Mme.  de  Genlis  and  her 

son-in-law  the  Comte  de  Valence  ;    the  Comtesse 

de    With;     one   of    the    Potocke ;     M.    and    Mme. 

Montaigu       and      the       Bishop       of       Clermont ; 

M.  d'Argicourt,  and  M.  d'Osseville  ;    the  Marquise 

de  Bouille,  and  the  Duchess  de  Bouillon,  dressed 

now  in  sober  grey,  given  to  charitable  works  among 

her  compatriots.      Of  those  who  were  not  content 

to  live  on  the  remnants  of  former  wealth,  but  of 

necessity  or  from  choice  sought  to  live  by  industry 

or  talent,  we  may  mention  the  Comtesse  de  Neuilly, 

who  had  turned  modiste ;   the  Marquis  de  Romans 

221 


Pierre  Garat 

and  the  Comtesse  d'Asfeld,  wine  merchants  ;  Mme. 
de  Tesse,  a  farmer;  M.  de  Viel-Castel,  editor  of 
the  Spectatear  du  Nord.  We  might  name  others  ; 
many  of  them,  like  the  Bourbons,  having  learned 
nothing ;  still  looking  forward  to  their  eventual 
return  to  Paris,  little  guessing  that  when  they  did 
return  it  would  be,  in  how  many  cases,  by  leave 
of  the  despot  whose  authority  they  never  admitted. 

In  Hamburg  our  singer  discovered  a  young 
violinist,  Lafond,  then  only  twelve  years  of  age, 
who  had  already  won  himself  a  name.  Garat 
befriended  him,  appeared  on  the  platform  with 
him,  and  eventually  taught  him  to  sing.  As  a 
singer  the  child  was  no  less  successful  than  as 
violinist,  and  the  concerts  held  by  Garat,  Rode, 
Lafond  and  others  obtained  a  success  that  must 
have  reminded  both  audience  and  artists  of  the 
days  before  the  deluge. 

Their  purses  filled,  the  artists  resumed  their 
original  intention  :  travelling  by  way  of  Holland 
and  Belgium  to  London.  Each  capital  had  its 
French  colony,  an  unchanged  fragment  of  the  old 
France.  Everywhere  Garat  found  familiar  faces  ; 
everywhere  he  was  welcomed  as  a  link  with  the 
past  ;  everywhere  his  marvellous  artistry  won  him 
renewed  fame. 


222 


CHAPTER    XI 
THE   NEW   PARIS 

Paris  after  the  Terror — A  city  up  to  auction — Changes — Wealth 
and  poverty — The  passing  of  a  civilization — The  new  society 
of  the  Directoire — "  At  home  out  of  doors " — Paris  keeps 
carnival — A  world  of  young  people — Garat's  welcome  to  the 
new  Paris — He  becomes  the  "rage" — Princely  fees — The  new 
salons :  Tallien,  Barras,  the  financiers,  etc. — The  Muscadins — 
The  Concert  Fey  dean — Garat's  apotheosis — Garat  gets  his  queue 
cut  off — The  king  of  dandies — Garat  satirized — Riot  in  the 
theatre — Garat  repeats  his  foreign  triumphs. 

Paris    drew    him    back,    as    she    draws    all    her 
children. 

Arriving  by  diligence,  depressed  by  the  sight 
of  a  devastated  France,  where  the  once  fruitful 
meadow  lay  fallow  and  the  prey  of  weeds  which 
invaded  the  very  highways,  and  wolves  hunted  in 
packs  at  night,  or  boldly  issued  from  the  woods  by 
daylight,  the  traveller,  on  alighting  at  the  barrier, 
was  surrojrnded  by  a  crowd  of  sallow,  unshaven 
patriots  :  men  of  the  true  shaggy  "  purity,"  pro- 
fessional informers,  spies,  police  agents,  who 
fumbled  the  exile's  papers,  ransacked  his  baggage, 
tracked  him  to  his  lodgings,  and  eyed  him  as  he 

223 


Pierre  Garat 

went  abroad  ;    furtively  learning  his  business  and 
his  habits,  in  the  hope  that  he  might  prove  suspect. 

Uneasy  under  this  sinister  inspection  of  the  city's 
unsavoury  guardians,  you  may  picture  the  returned 
exile  hastily  hailing  a  carriage.  He  approaches 
the  line  of  rickety  vehicles,  of  whose  drivers  not 
a  few  wear  remnants  of  liveries  under  their  top- 
coats, and  mentions  his  address.  "  One  !  "  "  Two  !  " 
"  Three  1  "  is  the  answer.  Three  francs?  No,  three 
thousand— payable  in  asslgnats.  Paper  is  at  its 
lowest ;  France,  after  five  years  of  popular  rule, 
is  more  hopelessly  bankrupt  than  ever.  When 
the  Republic  seeks  to  strike  an  account  of  assets 
and  liabilities,  income  and  expenditure,  seventy- 
three  of  the  departments  are  unable  to  send  the 
figures  required  :  they  have  not  the  money  to  pay 
the  needful  accountants'  woik  1 

The  bargain  struck,  the  carriage  sets  off,  through 
littered  streets  with  reeking  gutters,  in  some 
of  which  the  grass  has  grown ;  for  horses  are 
few,  and  only  lately  all  carriages  were  declared 
suspect. 

What  a  city  it  is  that  greets  his  eyes  !  Had 
the  enemies  of  Trance  marched  upon  the  capital 
and  sacked  it,  and  marched  away,  leaving  the 
delivered  inhabitants  to  rush  into  crazy  carnival, 
its  aspect  were  no  stranger  1  And  enemies  indeed 
have  sacked  it,  but  enemies  from  within  ;  and  a 
liberated  people  is  indeed  holding  carnival. 

Paper  1      No    wonder    that    the    paper-mills    of 

224 


THE    WOES    OF   THE    CAPITALIST. 
Frotn  a  coloured  print. 


To  face  p.  224. 


The  New  Paris 

France  have  failed  to  supply  all  the  paper  needed  1 
Every  man's  pockets  are  stuffed  with  paper;  his 
waistcoat  is  lined  with  it ;  the  expenses  of  a  day 
are  enough  to  stuff  a  scarecrow  !  Paper  on  the 
walls  ;  paper  on  acres  of  hoardings  ;  paper  under- 
foot ;    paper  flying  like  snow  in  the  dusty  breeze  ! 

It  is  a  city  of  posters,  of  a  sudden  decorated 
as  though  for  the  triumph  of  a  king  :  perchance 
that  Emperor  who  already  beholds  his  throne. 
Proclamations,  advertisements,  police-orders,  and 
again  proclamations  :  and  everywhere,  printed  in 
huge  letters,  or  painted,  or  scrawled  in  chalk,  the 
significant  words  :    National  Property  to  be  Sold! 

Churches,  convents,  palaces,  hotels,  are  deserted 
or  put  to  strange  uses  ;  and  everywhere  is  more 
paper  ;  the  walls  are  plastered  ;  old  posters,  sodden 
with  rain  or  peeling  off  by  weight  of  their 
multiple  layers,  droop  and  flap  upon  the  walls,  or 
hang  in  fluttering  strips  ;  the  quieter  streets  are 
littered  with  their  debris,  as  though  an  army  of 
picnickers  had  passed.  And  indeed  all  life  is 
now  something  of  a  picnic,  or  rather  a  feverish 
bivouac. 

The  churches  have  lost  their  crosses  ;  on  each 
a  pike  points  starkly,  bearing  a  cap  of  liberty, 
that  has  once,  perhaps,  borne  a  bleeding  head 
with  glazing,  half -shut  eyes.  Over  the  doors  are 
the  words :  The  French  People  believes  in  the 
immortality  of  the  Soul  and  the  existence  of  a 
Supreme  Being. 

225  p 


Pierre  Garat 

The  gates  of  grey  old  convents  are  gay  with 
tricolored  bunting,  coloured  posters,  lamps  of 
coloured  glass  ;  they  are  dancing-halls,  at  thirty 
sous,  a  livre,  or  five  livres  ;  or  are  busy  with 
drays  and  porters,  and  horses  too  unsound  to  be 
sent  to  the  armies  ;  they  are  warehouses,  factories, 
foundries.  From  the  windows  of  princely  hotels 
hang  multi-coloured  garments,  drying  ;  across  the 
majestic  courtyards  they  flutter  on  running  cords  ; 
you  may  see  a  blowzy  housewife,  bust  half  bare, 
head  out  of  window,  hauling  them  in  like  a  string 
of  lively  fish  or  a  train  of  Japanese  kites.  The 
old  salons  are  the  dining-rooms  of  cheap  pensions, 
or  restaurants,  or  supper-rooms,  or  worse ;  the 
lesser  rooms  are   tenements. 

But  now  we  reach  the  heart  of  the  city.  It 
is  as  though  the  debris  of  a  coronation  day  had 
been  left  through  Carnival ;  as  though  Carnival 
had  come  to  stay.  Flags,  flying  from  windows, 
strung  across  the  streets  ;  Venetian  masts  ;  festoons 
of  coloured  paper ;  devices  of  coloured  lamps  ; 
trees  of  liberty  long  dead.  And  everywhere  caf£s, 
restaurants,  lemonade-sellers,  ice-cream  shops, 
pastry-cooks,  ribbon-shops,  milliners,  medicine- 
vendors,  toyshops,  booksellers  ;  in  the  ground  floors 
of  palaces,  in  booths,  in  convents,  in  courtyards  ; 
the  city  has  become  a  bazaar,  a  monstrous  fair  ! 
It  is  as  though  the  Palais  Royal  had  littered  and 
populated  half  Paris. 

The  Palais  Royal  itself,  that  "  academy  of  riot," 

226 


The  New  Paris 

is  given  over  to  women  of  the  town  and  their 
bullies  :  there  are  few  but  support  some  discredited 
Jacobin,  some  dwindling  member  of  the  National 
Guard.  In  the  shops  and  the  galleries  they  make 
pretence  of  varied  commerce  ;  in  the  upper  stories 
of  the  palace  their  trade  is  only  one.  There  they 
dwell,  a  name  upon  each  door,  or  perhaps  an 
indecent  print. 

In  the  Tuileries  the  trees  are  down  ;  but  there 
are  flower-beds,  lawns,  and  statues.  A  statue  of 
Rousseau  stands  there,  leading  Nature  by  the  hand. 
In  a  few  years'  time  he  will  be  replaced  by 
Meleager.  "  Religion  is  coming  back  !  "  cries  an 
honest  citizen  :   "  behold  St.  Roche  and  his  dog  !  " 

In  the  Place  de  la  Revolution  the  statue  of 
Liberty  moulders  ;  her  neck  shows  places  whence 
the  plaster  has  fallen.  She  awaits,  the  daring 
whisper,   the   royal   touch   for   scrofula. 

In  the  Champs  Elysees  the  trees  have  run  wild  ; 
they  meet  overhead,  in  avenues  of  pleasant  shade. 
Avoid  the  thickets  :  but  the  lawns  are  innocent 
enough  :  gay  with  children  in  carmagnoles  of 
striped  cotton,  children  in  perambulators,  impelled 
by  contented  parents.  Around  them  a  world  of 
cafes,  whose  lights  at  night  ring  the  place  with  fire. 

Only  the  Jardin  des  Plantes  has  improved.  The 
collections  of  Versailles  and  the  Trianon  have  been 
moved  hither  ;  and  the  first  scientists  of  France 
are  at  work  here,  lecturing,  investigating,  doing 
notable  things  ;    their  ranks  thinned  by  the  Terror. 

227 


Pierre  Garat 

Here  and  there,  from  the  vantage  of  a  carriage, 
the  home-comer  spies  beyond  a  garden  wall,  a 
hastily  constructed  fence  or  motley  hoarding, 
a  great  open  space,  surrounded  by  blackened  walls. 
What  hotel,  palace,  or  convent  stood  here  he  hardly 
knows  ;  for  the  streets  are  all  renamed.  Now  the 
site  is  gay  with  the  tawdry  finery  of  circus  and 
fair  and  bazaar  ;  swings,  bandstands,  dancing -tents, 
lawns,  banks  of  seats,  fountains  ;  places  where 
you  may  dance,  innocently  enough,  or  seek  adven- 
ture, or  sup  in  an  underground  grotto  with  a  nymph 
whose  price  is  on  the  bill. 

And  all  day  long  are  auctions.  "  Half  Paris  is 
selling  the  other  half  !  " 

A  world  has  passed  away,  a  civilization, 
an  epoch ;  leaving  behind  it  its  dwellings,  its 
goods  and  chattels,  its  treasures,  its  household 
gods. 

National  Property  these,  for  the  most  part ;  for 
money  is  cheap  and  all  else  dear.  But  patriots 
have  been  rewarded  ;  speculators  have  bought  far 
and  wide  ;  creditors  of  the  State  have  taken  their 
pay ;  and  all  day  the  auctioneer  is  busy.  The 
chairs,  tables,  hangings,  beds,  bureaux,  pictures, 
statues,  plate,  and  jewels  of  the  emigres  are  all 
for  sale  ;  some  growing  dusty  in  locked  and  silent 
salons  ;  some  huddled  in  lofts  ;  more  displayed 
pell-mell  in  the  lower  rooms  of  the  very  houses  they 
adorned.      Curio-shops  are  legion  ;    their  contents 

228 


The  New  Paris 

overflow  on  the  pavements  ;  the  quays  are  lined 
with  all  manner  of  treasures  and  rubbish ;  the 
returning  emigre  may  see  his  mother's  portrait 
hanging  askew  between  a  warming-pan  and  a 
gridiron. 

Bread  is  still  lacking.  The  farmers  of  nobles' 
estates  are  forced  by  law  to  supply  their  landlords 
with  a  little  flour.  In  Paris  the  Commune  gives 
a  daily  ration:  wherefore  150,000  strangers  have 
flocked  into  the  city. 

Yet  if  most  are  poor,  many  are  rich.  Men  risen 
by  murder  and  betrayal,  or  mere  peculation  and 
cunning,  hold  palaces  that  cost  a  king's  ransom, 
or  estates  that  were  once  the  wealth  of  princes  ; 
broad  acres  of  forest  and  cornland  and  vineyard  ; 
but  the  trees  are  felled,  the  fields  are  fallow,  and 
the  grapes  may  rot  ungathered.  Half  France  lies 
unproductive.  Property  passes  from  hand  to  hand, 
not  as  a  thing  to  be  exploited,  but  something 
from  which  a  little  wealth  may  be  wrested  ere  it 
be  resold.  For  the  men  that  might  exploit  it, 
they    are    fighting    the    outer    enemy. 

A  nation  up  to  auction  1  A  civilization  is  dead, 
and  the  effects  are  being  liquidated ;  the  relics 
of  a  ruling  race.  From  the  days  when  the  Celt 
and  German  drifted  westward  from  the  plains  of 
Asia,  or  southward  from  the  northern  forests  ;  when 
the  cave-men  of  Gaul  first  painted  their  dwellings 

with  coloured  images  of  beasts,  perhaps  in  hope  to 

229 


Pierre  Garat 

charm  thither  their  living  kind  ;  when  the  brown 
men  of  the  Mediterranean  made  Italy  their  home, 
and  the  pale  Finns  of  the  North  launched  their 
craft  on  the  fiords  of  Norway  ;  through  all  these 
years  the  soil  of  France  had  been  moulding  a 
civilization,  a  ruling  breed,  a  people  whose  primal, 
life-giving  passions  evolved  into  the  emotions,  the 
sentiments,  the  beliefs,  the  arts  and  the  knowledge 
that  make  the  civilized  man.  Now  this  race,  the 
work  of  ages,  was  dispossessed  as  an  unjust 
steward ;  exiled,  in  a  great  measure  destroyed, 
and  utterly  brought  low.  The  lesser  race  was 
left  in  power,  to  whom  distorted,  blunted  simulacra 
of  the  achievements  of  ages  had  sifted  downward  : 
for  the  civilization  of  a  degenerate  people  is  always 
a  degenerate  form  of  that  of  its  rulers,  not  a 
perfected  form  of  that  of  the  people  of  the  soil, 
nor  a  developed  form  of  that  of  savagery.  And 
the  basic,  disinherited  people  itself,  neither  crafty 
savages  nor  civilized  barbarians,  these  too  were 
left,  the  men  mere  food  for  powder,  the  women 
ineffectually  tilling  the  lessened  fields  or  reaping 
the  easier  harvest  of  the  streets.  Into  the  hands 
of  such  as  these  had  fallen  the  booty,  the  loot 
of  France. 

Despite  anarchy,  despite  a  wasted  country,  there 
was  wealth  and  a  wealthy  class.  Those  who 
returned  not  penniless  from  exile  found  their  hastily 
saved  gold  at  a  premium.  But  the  city  was 
possessed    by    a    horde    of    enriched    buyers    and 

230 


The  New  Paris 

sellers  ;  informers  and  betrayers  ;  contractors  and 
stock-jobbers ;  riggers  of  the  money-market, 
buyers  of  trash  to  be  sold  for  infinite  resale ; 
sutlers,  shoemakers,  clothiers,  fleshers,  horse- 
copers  to  the  armies  ;  the  administrators  of  national 
goods ;  an  army  of  locusts,  embezzling,  having 
embezzled,  or  about  to  embezzle  ;  a  class  that  some- 
times barely  knew  the  use  or  the  names  of  the 
articles  they  bought  or  sold  so  freely. 

Such  were  the  new  Parisians.  What  sort  of 
a  society  did  they  make?  In  great  measure  a 
society  that  was  "  at  home  only  out  of  doors "  ; 
that  lived  in  public  :  supporting  over  six  hundred 
public  ballrooms,  scores  of  theatres,  dozens  of 
concert-halls,  and  thousands  of  cabarets,  cafes, 
restaurants,  and  gaming-houses.  At  night  the 
whole  city  was  a  maze  of  coloured  lights  ;  from 
Montmartre  you  might  watch  the  ascent  of  fire- 
works  from   twelve   different   pleasure-gardens. 

For  all  Paris  was  keeping  carnival ;  all  the 
world  was  athirst  to  live,  to  taste,  to  enjoy,  'to 
dance,   to   love. 

As  a  mature  woman  whom  secluded  life  has 
kept  ignorant  of  sex  will  sometimes  finally  love 
with  disastrous  passion,  a  Caliban  as  likely  as  a 
Ferdinand,  so  a  whole  generation,  whose  youth 
was  passed  in  the  shadow  of  terror,  in  a  world  of 
fear,  repression,  and  sordid  stoicism,  now  ran  wild 
as  a  colt  loosed  upon  windy  hills. 

231 


Pierre  Garat 

Thereby  a  certain  salvation  was  achieved.  For 
among  the  rest,  as  wild  as  they  for  pleasure,  were 
the  impoverished  nobles,  the  gently  nurtured 
bourgeoisie,  who  had  lived  through  the  Revolution 
or  were  slowly  returning  from  abroad.  For  a  time 
a  sort  of  democracy  was  a  fact ;  before  the  classes 
settled  into  strata,  or  drew  apart  into  coteries,  all 
classes  lived  and  tasted  life  in  public.  The  sons 
and  daughters  of  nobles  who  lived  on  the  few 
supplies  grudgingly  doled  them  by  their  tenants, 
eking  them  out  with  savings  or  the  sale  of  house- 
hold treasures,  were  proud  of  their  successes  in 
economy ;  breeding  went  gaily  in  often-washed 
muslin,  or  coats  long  shabby  with  wear  ;  and  rich 
vulgarity,  attempting  to  reach  distinction  by  dis- 
play, recognized  superiority  and  aped  it.  Young 
girls  of  noble  or  gentle  birth  robed  themselves  in 
Greek  fashion,  in  a  few  yards  of  stuff  and  ribbon  ; 
the  leaders  of  plutocracy  adopted  the  fashion, 
exaggerated  it,  omitted  the  chemise  as  concealing 
the  limbs,  and  at  length,  for  a  week,  went  in 
chemises  alone.  As  the  cultured  classes  became 
established  manners  and  dress  assumed  a  certain 
simple  elegance  ;  but  the  transition  stage  saw  the 
most  wonderful  medley  of  fashions,  outrageous  and 
grotesque,   that  the   world  has  ever  known. 

The  older  people,  saddened  incurably,  or  unable 
to  adapt  themselves,  held  aloof.  The  younger 
generation,  being  free  of  the  fear  of  death,  eager 

232 


The  New  Paris 

to  forget  the  past,  thirsted  for  life,  for  pleasure,  for 
the  lust  of  the  eye  and  the  gratification  of  the 
senses.  Because  the  body  must  be  simply  arrayed, 
and  because  they  no  longer  feared  to  hold  it  dear, 
they  conceived  a  worship  of  the  body.  Men  took 
to  athletics ;  foot-races  in  the  parks,  wrestling, 
ball-play,  juggling  upon  bars  or  trapezes  ;  they 
attended  fencing-schools  and  dancing  academies  ; 
took  pride  in  mighty  thews  and  a  clean  skin. 
Women  to  a  certain  extent  followed  suit ;  with 
them  the  worship  of  the  body  took  the  form  of 
revealing  its  beauty,  by  robes  of  a  single  thickness, 
cross-girdled  under  the  breasts,  revealing  the  calf 
and  thigh  at  the  side  ;  the  feet  were  encased  in 
sandals,  and  rings  were  worn  on  the  toes.  Morality 
was  easy,  and  because  this  was  so,  and  because 
parents  could  not  agree  in  so  mixed  a  world, 
marriages  were  few  ;  so  marriage -marts  were  held  : 
a  pension  for  young  ladies  with  dowries  was  estab- 
lished, where  aspiring  husbands  were  nightly 
entertained. 

Such  was  the  outward  Paris  :  as  a  stranger  might 
see  it,  or  a  social  outcast ;  and  at  first  it  was  largely 
a  city  of  folk  who  were  in  a  sense  outcast,  of  people 
uprooted  or  unsettled.  Inwardly  it  was  of  course  in 
process  of  crystallization  ;  the  newly  enriched  here, 
there,  and  everywhere,  but  especially  on  the 
Chaussee  d'Antin;  the  less  wealthy  worlds  were 
more  confined  to  their  several  quarters,  being  as 
yet  unable  to  keep  carriages. 

233 


Pierre  Garat 

Garat,  on  his  return,  found  himself  welcomed 
by  all  these  worlds  ;  eventually  even  by  the  home- 
less world  which  lived  and  mingled  and  entertained 
in  public.  Like  his  friends,  of  the  theatres,  his 
welcome  was  warm  indeed.  If  for  a  time,  for 
reasons  to  be  seen,  his  eminence  as  dandy  ceased  to 
increase,  at  least,  in  this  new  world  so  eager  to  love 
and  live  he  was  more  than  ever  the  idol  of  women. 
In  the  salons  of  the  richer  but  more  established 
world,  the  homes  of  the  rulers  of  France,  no  enter- 
tainment was  complete  without  his  presence.  The 
days  of  singing  to  a  couple  of  hundred  borrowed 
chairs,  to  three-franc  audiences,  were  over :  his 
fee  was  £60  to  £80  per  appearance.  The  young 
men  of  the  city,  with  their  square  baggy  coats,  high 
collars,  and  tight  pantaloons,  bearers  of  huge 
knotted  clubs,  whom  one  day  he  was  to  lead,  were 
eclipsed  for  the  time  by  this  dandy  of  the  anclen 
regime.  He  was  the  fashion,  the  rage,  a  demi-god 
of  the  night.  When  he  sang  the  guests  crowded 
about  him,  stood  upon  chairs  to  watch  him  ;  women 
wept  and  kissed  his  hand. 

You  might  see  him  continually  in  the  salons  of 
Barras,  and  in  the  train  of  that  queen  of  the  new 
society,  Mme.  Tallien  :  the  latter  he  visited  "  almost 
daily,  to  sing  some  of  his  beautiful  Italian  airs." 
Mehul  or  Cherubini  would  take  the  piano,  and  while 
he  rested,  or  gracefully  received  the  adoration  of 
his  latest  pursuer,  Rode  would  play  the  violin. 

234 


The  New  Paris 

Perhaps  because  he  was  so  continually  called 
Orpheus  he  now  began  to  accompany  himself  upon 
the  lyre  :  an  instrument,  for  that  matter,  entirely 
to  the  taste  of  a  society  which,  largely  because  a 
Greek  robe  of  muslin  cost  only  a  few  francs,  and 
was  therefore  worn  by  young  girls  of  the 
impoverished  nobility,  whose  presence  was  eagerly 
courted  and  their  fashions  adopted  by  mushroom 
wealth,  was  in  love  with  classical  costumes  and 
allusions.  Armand  S6guin,  the  chemist,  who  had 
provided  the  armies  with  leather,  was  another  of  his 
constant  patrons  ;  Ouvrard  also,  a  young  multi- 
millionaire, who  entertained  in  half  a  dozen  princely 
chateaux ;  Hainguerlot,  a  fraudulent  army  con- 
tractor ;  and  Van  Der  Berghe,  Perregaux, 
Tilliere,  Dalessart,  Pourtales,  and  Le  Couteux, 
among  the  new  financial  magnates.  At  the  home 
of  the  Etchegoyens,  also  financiers,  like  himself 
Basques  by  descent,  and  even  distantly  related,  he 
met  many  compatriots.  He  did  not,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  confine  himself  to  any  one  circle  ;  as 
a  guest  he  might  have  avoided  those  of  extreme 
opinion  ;  as  a  professional  singer  he  went  every- 
where. Fouche  and  Sieves  were  his  hosts  no  less 
than  entertainers  of  royalist  opinions  ;  Mmes.  de 
Montesson,  de  Lameth,  de  Viennais,  the  Duchesse 
d'Aiguillon,  the  Due  de  Fitz-James,  by  their  fre- 
quent invitations  provided  him  with  a  society  that 
recalled  his  earlier  years. 

Of  the  Governmental  hostesses,   Mme.   Tallien, 

235 


Pierre  Garat 

perhaps,  was  she  who  most  often  required  his 
services.  Being  a  Bordelais,  he  could  not  readily 
forget  Teresa  Cabarrus,  Comtesse  de  Fontenay, 
"  Our  Lady  of  Pity."  If  he  found  it  not  so  easy 
to  enter  the  house  of  the  butcher  of  Bordeaux,  at 
least  he  was  paid  for  his  services  ;  moreover,  the 
butcher  was  a  reformed  character  and  had  been 
a  chief  instrument  in  ending  Robespierre's  Terror. 
When  Mme.  Tallien,  deserting  her  Director, 
became  in  her  final  avatar  the  Princesse  de  Chimay, 
Garat  was  as  ever  a  friend  and  servitor. 

He  was  welcome  also  in  Huguenot  circles  :  in 
the  home  of  de  Corancez,  father  of  Mme.  de 
Cavaignac,  a  truly  musical  house,  where  our  singer 
met  Gretry,  Gossec,  Lesueur,  and  others,  singing 
their  songs,  to  the  accompaniment  of  Baillot  the 
violinist.  Here  he  met  the  flower  of  intellectual 
France  :  Joseph  de  Chenier,  pursued  by  the  calum- 
nious nickname  of  Cain ;  Bernardin  de  Saint- 
Pierre  ;  Florian ;  Laplace,  Laharpe,  Lagrange ; 
and  with  them  Greuze,  now  a  dissolute  and  aged 
wreck  of  his  former  self.  At  the  house  of  de 
Corancez'  elder  daughter,  Mme.  de  Foissy,  he  was 
present  every  Tuesday,  when  Baillot  and  Rode 
played  the  violin,  and  La  Marie  and  Bodiot  the 
bass  viol.  Besides  chamber  music  and  Garat's 
own  voice  the  guests  were  privileged  to  hear  Mme. 
de  Foissy  herself  at  the  piano,  while  Miles,  de 
Chevilly,   Bouillee,   and   Cloisiau   sang. 

Of  fashionable  hostesses  other  than  Mme.  Tallien 

236 


The  New  Paris 

we  may  cite  Mmes.  Hamelin,  de  Canisy,  de  Fleury, 
Recamier,  de  Montaigu,  de  Brissac,  de  Lostanges, 
among  others,  all  of  the  old  nobility  ;  lastly,  but 
not  least,  the  future  Empress  of  the  French,  whose 
interior  Morris  has  described  for  us.  We  might 
extend  the  list  through  pages  :  Mmes.  Regnault 
de  Saint-Angely,  Sophie  Gay,  Hainguerlot,  etc., 
etc.  Of  the  hosts  of  Paris  we  may  mention,  besides 
Barras  and  Tallien,  Lucien  Bonaparte,  Cambaceres, 
Marat,  Dupaty,  Laborde,  and  the  Rastignacs  ;  of 
the  old  world,  the  brothers  de  Noailles,  de  l'Aigle, 
de  Montrond,  d'Orsay,  d'Hautefort,  de  Perigord, 
etc.  In  the  homes  of  such  men  as  Vernet,  Boilly, 
Isabey,  and  their  like,  he  was  himself  at  home. 

The  musical  society  of  the  capital  he  encountered 
not  only  in  these  many  salons,  but  also  at  the 
receptions  held  in  the  house  of  the  Erards,  whose 
fame  was  then  beginning.  Here  were  his  tried 
comrades  Rode  and  Boieldieu,  and  his  old  friends 
Mehul,    Cherub ini,    Lesueur,    Gretry,   etc. 

So  much  for  his  relations  with  the  inner  world 
of  Paris.  With  many  of  its  members  he  had  been 
long  familiar  ;  for  the  outer  world,  the  world  "  at 
home  only  out  of  doors,"  he  was  known  (save  by 
hearsay,  perhaps  by  sight)  only  to  the  few  who 
remembered  the  Concerts  Spirituels  of  pre- 
Revolutionary  days.  Now  he  was  again  to  make 
his  bow  to  this  larger  audience,  to  win  his  greatest 
triumphs,  his  greatest  notoriety  ;    to  encounter  also 

237 


Pierre  Garat 

a  momentary  check  which,  although  for  once  in 
his  life  he  was  made  to  look  ridiculous,  was 
eventually  a  happy  crisis  in  his  life  as  leader 
of  fashion. 

It  was  in  1795  that  he  commenced  his  appear- 
ances at  the  Concerts  Feydeau. 

Before  speaking  of  his  relations  with  his  new 
public,  let  us  consider  for  a  moment  what  that 
public  was.  One  might  say,  Chaos  at  Carnival; 
for  in  the  early  days  of  the  Thermidorean  reaction 
society  was  as  yet  formless,  was  composed  of  a 
hundred  cliques,  and  the  owners  of  millions  were 
but  slowly  learning  to  spend  them.  Meanwhile 
the  best  society  was  not  seldom  to  be  found  at  the 
public  balls. 

The  muscadins,  the  "  gilded  youth  "  of  Freron, 
came  into  being  while  Garat  was  absent  from  Paris. 
They  were  a  class  of  young  men  who  might  have 
been  said  to  be  drunken  with  life.  To  protect 
themselves  from  the  remnants  of  Robespierrism, 
they  adopted  the  club,  the  baton,  the  "  executive 
power."  Despite  an  affected  brutality  of  manner, 
which  at  times  became  a  real  violence,  and  a 
general  licence  of  behaviour,  they  were  the  avengers 
of  civilization.  Theirs  were  the  joys  of  fine  clothes, 
full  purses,  fair  women,  wine,  song,  music,  art, 
and  the  dance  ;  and  these  delights  they  were  ready 
to  defend  with  their  lives.  They  were  supported 
by  all  that  was  joy-loving,  generous,  and  gay  in 
feminine   France.      The   uniform   of   the   muscadin 

238 


LES   INCROYABLES — 1796. 
From  a  coloured  engraving  after  Vernet. 


A   CABRIOLET. 
From  a  lithograph. 


The  New  Paris 

was  a  square,  shapeless  coat,  varied  from  month 
to  month  by  all  kinds  of  intentional  misfits,  with 
buttons  low  in  the  back,  and  two  long  tails  ;  the 
legs,  encased  in  tight  pantaloons  and  top  boots, 
were  as  like  stilts  as  might  be,  and  a  splay-footed, 
knock-kneed  or  bow-legged  form  of  progress  was 
adopted.  The  cravat  was  enormous,  "  a  goitre  of 
muslin,"  rising  to  the  lips  ;  the  face  was  barely 
revealed  between  the  boat-shaped  hat  and  the 
bottle-neck  shoulders.  Infinite  variety  ensued,  but 
thus,  on  Garat's  return,  was  the  typical  muscadin. 
The  muscadin  was  a  violent  person.  He  wore 
a  black  collar  ;  the  Jacobin  a  red.  "  Devil  of  a 
chouan  !  "  cried  a  Jacobin  one  day  ;  "  for  whom 
are  you  in  mourning?"  "For  you!"  said  the 
other,  blowing  out  his  brains.  "  Strike  !  "  was  his 
motto.  "  Personal  defence  is  a  legitimate  and 
natural  privilege  !  " 

Garat  the  royalist  would  be  tolerated  by  such. 
Garat  the  idol  of  Paris  would  command  respect. 
Garat  the  musician  they  adored.  But  they  could 
not  support  a  man  dressed  as  a  noble  of  the  ancien 
regime  as  their  leader  ;  and  it  became  presently 
patent  that  he  was  assuming  or  was  accorded  such 
a  position.  We  shall  see  what  occurred  ;  we  shall 
see  that  while  Garat  was  undisputed  king  of 
incroyables  he  never  truly  led  the  muscadins.  It 
is  perhaps  correct  to  say  that  his  leadership 
coincided  with  the  passage  from  muscadin  to 
incroyable. 

239 


Pierre  Garat 

This  important  point  considered,  let  us  proceed 
to  the  Concert  Fey  dean. 

The  mushroom  millionaires,  having  heard  that 
the  nobles  of  the  anclen  regime  were  wont  to  delight 
their  guests  with  orchestral  and  vocal  music,  were 
most  willing  to  do  the  same.  Their  wives  were 
positively  heroic  ;  women  of  forty  began  to  learn 
the  piano  and  travelled  with  a  clavichord. 

Concerts  became  as  universal  as  balls.  The 
Utopia  of  musicians  was  at  hand.  But  of  all 
concerts  the  concert -in -chief  was  the  Concert 
Feydeau . 

It  was— to  cite  MM.  Goncourt— the  Field  of  the 
Cloth  of  Gold  of  the  Directory.  "  To  produce  a 
sensation  at  the  Concert  Feydeau  a  woman  would 
wear  two  years'  income  on  her  back.  The  modistes 
were  besieged,  the  day  before  the  concert,  by  a 
cloud  of  femmes  de  chambre ;  offering  a  hundred 
francs  for  a  hat,  on  condition  that  no  duplicate 
appeared  at  the  concert.  Three  days  beforehand 
Paris  stood  in  a  queue  at  the  box-office  of  the 
Feydeau,  demanding  boxes  .  .  .  whence  wigs 
inlaced  with  gold,  hats  loaded  with  diamonds,  and 
robes  of  lace  might  be  exhibited.  .  .  .  On  the 
day  the  crowd  is  enough  to  make  any  one  despair 
of  entering.  .  .  .  Biting  verses  are  written  on  this 
Longchamps  of  the  incroyables  and  impossibles! 
Martainville  puts  on  the  boards  The  Concert  of  the 
Rue  de  Feydeau  or  The  Amusement  of  the  Day ; 
...   at   the  Ambigu   is   the   Concert  of  the   Rue 

240 


The  New  Paris 

Feydeau  or  The  Folly  of  the  Day.  Ridiculed, 
their  garments  insulted,  the  habitues  of  the  Feydeau 
hiss  the  piece  at  the  Ambigu ;  there  is  a  little 
cudgel-play;  cries  of  Down  with  the  Jacobins! 
Down  with  the  Muscadins!  and  a  little  set-to  on 
leaving  ;  the  Parisians  wonder  whether  the  fashions 
will  cause  a  civil  war. 

"  Feydeau  is  not  only  the  haunt  of  muscadins . 
It  is  more  than  the  show -place  of  elegancies, 
novelties,  smiles,  ribbons,  glances,  head-dresses  ; 
more  than  the  salon  of  fashion  :  it  is  a  concert,  the 
finest  concert  in  Paris.  One  by  one,  you  may  hear 
the  pure  and  sonorous  violin  of  Mme.  Larduner, 
the  expressive  voice  of  Mme.  Barbier,  the  cornet 
of  Punto,  the  violin  of  Baillot,  the  harp  of  Mme. 
Molinos  ;  Rousseau  also  and  Guiraux  and  Mme. 
Storace.  But  who  is  this?  The  restless  heads 
grow  more  restless ;  feathers  sway  and  flutter ; 
gold  glitters ;  scented  fans  tremble.  A  sympa- 
thetic murmur  precedes  some  one  who  comes 
forward .  Who  is  it  ?  It  is  Garat  !  Garat,  the 
spoilt  child  of  success  !  Garat,  for  whom  the  late 
queen  sent  six  horses  !  Garat,  whose  larynx  is  a 
whole  opera  !  Garat,  who  counterfeits  all  voices, 
all  qualities,  all  the  actors  and  actresses,  all  instru- 
ments. .  .  .  The  Orpheus  in  strange  garments ; 
the  cheeky  fellow  who  threatens  M.  de  Talleyrand 
never  to  dine  with  him  again,  for  he  has  been  kept 
thirty  minutes  waiting  !  Garat,  who  is  paid  sixty 
pounds  for  singing  a  couple  of  airs  ! 

241  Q 


Pierre  Garat 

"  Garat  reigns ;  the  romance  governs  ...  it 
has  travelled  over  all  France.  Garat  sings  .  .  . 
eyes  are  filled  with  tears  ;  gentle  hands  thank  him 
for  having  sung.  But  a  smile,  at  once  confused 
and  grateful,  is  seen  fluttering  on  feminine  lips  ; 
fans  open  and  are  a  screen  to  shelter  shame.  .  .  . 
Garat  !  The  witty  buffoon  of  the  rondeau  called 
Visitandines!  the  singer,  below  the  breath,  of 
ethereal  obscenities.     Garat  sings  : — 

" '  One  day  this  autumn  .  .  . ' 

It  is  the  famous  Girl  of  Gascony,  which  he  could 
not  deny  to  the  pleading  of  the  whole  hall.  .  .  . 
The  women  blush  obviously,  and  in  secret  laugh, 
and  the  applause  of  a  thousand  hands  rewards  the 
singer. 

"  Happy  Garat  !  The  Seine  would  return  your 
ring,  did  you  throw  it  in  !  Happy  Garat  !  You 
might  say,  to  Fashion  :  '  O  my  divine  goddess 
and  guardian,  all  men  complain  of  their  lot,  but 
I  beg  you  to  change  no  single  thing  in  mine. 
The  graces,  the  pleasures  besiege  me  ;  they  all 
long  for  me,  and  I  let  them  draw  me  after  them. 
They  worship  me  ;  I  let  them  do  so  ;  my  costume, 
my  speech,  my  bearing,  all  make  an  epoch  in  the 
world.  A  romance  of  mine  is  an  event ;  a 
chromatic  cadence  the  news  of  the  day  ;  a  cold 
a  public  disaster.  .  .  .  It  is  too  much  felicity  for 
a  mortal  !  " 

242 


The  New  Paris 

Such  was  the  triumph  of  Garat  in  the  new 
world.  But  in  citing  the  brothers  Goncourt  we 
have  in  a  measure  anticipated.  Before  he  con- 
quered his  public  wholly,  before  the  incroyables 
accepted  him  as  king,  there  was  a  crisis  ;  and  the 
wit  that  saved  him  was  not  his  own. 

Other  than  muscadlns  and  incroyables  fre- 
quented the  Feydeau  ;  or  shall  we  say  that  among 
them  were  youths  of  republican  leanings  ?  The 
authorities  are  none  too  clear.  What  we  do  know  is 
that  Garat  continued  to  appear,  lordly  and  imper- 
tinent, in  powdered  hair,  queue,  and  the  full  dress 
of  old  Versailles.  He  disdained  the  "  square  coat  " 
as  he  contemned  the  carmagnole.  This  was  a 
contempt  of  opinion.  The  news  ran  through  Paris  ; 
and  one  day  the  audience  was  ripe  for  mischief. 

Blaise  Martin  was  to  sing  with  him  ;  once  and 
always  a  violinist,  but  also  an  actor  and  an 
admirable  singer,  with  a  compass  comparable  to 
Garat's.  When  it  was  Garat's  turn  to  sing,  that 
befell  which  had  never  been  known  before  :  he 
was  hissed  !  From  all  parts  of  the  hall  came  the 
hisses,  with  a  rhythmical  chorus  of  "  La  queue, 
la  queue  I"  Garat  stared  and  retired  to  the  wings, 
where  he  found  Martin.  "  What's  the  matter  with 
them?"  "You  will  be  hissed,"  replied  the  other, 
"  so  long  as  you  retain  your  queue."  "  Does  it 
prevent  me  from  singing  truly?"  said  Garat. 
"No."  "  Well  then,  they  are  wrong  !  "  With  this 
logical    retort,    he    again    ascended    the    platform. 

243 


Pierre  Garat 

Louder  than  ever  were  the  hisses.  Garat  stood 
firm  and  waited  for  silence ;  but  there  was  no 
silence.  The  uproar,  on  the  contrary,  increased; 
there  were  shouts,  insulting  yells,  and  cries  of  "  La 
queue!"  Garat  stood  amazed.  Martin,  from  the 
wings,  called  him,  saying  that  he  would  sing  first 
and  thus  obtain  a  hearing  for  Garat.  Garat 
returned  to  the  wings,  when  Martin,  with  a  sudden 
stroke  of  a  pair  of  shears,  cut  off  the  offending 
queue.  Garat  was  inclined  to  retaliate,  but  Martin, 
giving  him  no  time  for  reflection  or  for  action, 
dragged  him  upon  the  boards,  with  his  hair  falling 
about  his  face  :  a  spectacle  received  with  a  burst 
of  unanimous  applause.  Amiably  accepting  defeat, 
he  sang,  and  never  was  his  reception  more  wildly 
enthusiastic.     Martin  he  forgave  in  due  course. 

Conversion  to  the  chevelure  a  Titus,  the  crop, 
or  the  dog's  ear  cut,  the  square  tail-coat,  the  skin- 
tight pantaloons,  and  high  top-boots  would  have 
been  too  servile  a  submission.  He  accepted  the 
new  fashions,  but  he  wore  them  with  a  difference. 
His  hair  was  dressed  in  a  shock  of  little  curls, 
which  gave  him  the  look  of  a  poodle  ;  his  coat  was 
cut  with  "  haddock's  tails,"  the  skirts  turned  back 
and  buttoned ;  his  pantaloons  descended  to  the 
swell  of  the  calf,  and  his  boots  were  of  soft  leather, 
with  the  tops  turned  over.  A  vast  cravat  allowed 
only  the  upper  part  of  his  face  to  be  seen,  and 
his    hat    was    high-crowned   instead   of   low.      His 

striped    waistcoats    bore    two    rows    of    prodigious 

244 


The  New  Paris 

buttons  ;  and  his  overcoats  were  laden  with  a  series 
of  diminishing  capes. 

By  these  changes,  however,  he  became  an 
incroyable  and  the  accepted  monarch  of  their  race. 
Hence  he  was  despotic  arbiter  of  taste  and  bearing, 
music  and  fashion. 

In  connection  with  Garat's  restoration  as  supreme 
dandy  we  must  refer  once  more  to  The  Concert 
of  the  Rue  Feydeau  or  the  Folly  of  a  Day,  by 
Perrin  and  Commaille,  which  was  played  at  the 
Ambigu.  The  play  represented  the  crowd  of 
lady's-maids  besieging  the  milliners,  bidding  for 
hats  of  unique  design  for  the  morrow's  concert, 
and  lackeys  waiting  at  the  box-office  to  obtain 
boxes  advantageous  for  display.  Garat  himself 
was  represented  as  a  fatuous  and  ridiculous  dolt, 
and  a  second  person  qualified  him  as  a  muscadin. 

Garat  and  his  friends  were  warned  of  what  was 
coming.  The  first  night  at  the  Ambigu  saw  them 
in  their  seats.  When  the  word  muscadin  was 
launched  as  a  term  of  abuse,  they  rose,  led  by 
Garat,  hissing,  shouting,  booing  the  author,  leapt 
upon  the  stage,  and  sent  for  Perrin,  in  order  to 
bid  him  suppress  the  word  which  had  outraged 
their  feelings.  Perrin  replied;  all  were  silent  to 
hear  him.  "  Gentlemen,  the  word  was  not  in  the 
text.  It  shall  be  to-morrow  and  the  actor  will 
repeat  it."  Thereupon  such  a  tumult  arose  that  the 
theatre  had  to  be  evacuated. 

245 


Pierre  Garat 

Next  day  Garat  and  his  friends  returned  in  even 
greater  force,  having  bought  all  the  canes  and 
heavy  cudgels  to  be  obtained.  The  unsympathetic 
portion  of  the  audience  did  as  much,  as  did  the 
actors,  musicians,  stage  carpenters,  call-boys,  etc. 
The  riot  was  worse  than  before.  No  one  ever 
heard  fnore  than  the  first  scenes  of  the  offending 
comedy . 

Garat  had  not  lost  sight  of  Lafond,  the  young 
singer  and  violinist  of  his  Hamburg  days.  In 
1797  he  presented  him  at  the  Feydeau.  Under 
Garat's  guidance  the  boy  of  fourteen  was  soon 
the  rival  of  Kreutzer  and  Viotti. 

Before  this  date  he  had  once  more  visited  Rouen, 
where  he  was  sure  of  the  warmest  welcome. 
Thence,  after  a  stay  of  several  weeks,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Havre.  Boieldieu  was  his  companion 
and  at  Rouen  his  host ;  the  series  of  concerts  which 
they  gave  in  the  former's  native  city  were  so 
successful,  as  the  pianist  remarks  in  a  letter  to 
a  friend,  that  all  his  Rouen  debts  were  paid. 

In  the  following  year  Garat  made  a  second 
foreign  tour.  He  visited  various  capitals ;  the 
Moniteur  Ofpciel  speaks  of  him  as  in  Madrid : 
"  Garat  the  singer  is  at  the  present  moment 
delighting  Madrid."  Did  he,  on  his  journey  home, 
perhaps  visit  Ustaritz,  where  his  father  dwelt  in 
retirement  ? 


246 


CHAPTER    XII 
PROFESSOR  OF  SINGING  AND   THE   MODE 

More  concerts — Garat  at  rehearsals — The  idol  of  Paris — Feminine 
pursuit  of  Garat — Longchamps  restored— Garat  the  pattern 
of  muscadins — The  men  of  the  paole  d'honneu — The  responsi- 
bilities of  a  dandy — Garat's  appearance — His  unpunctuality 
— At  Mme.  Junot's — His  sincerity  as  an  artist — An  inspiration 
— The  Conservatoire — Garat  becomes  a  professor — He  bids 
farewell  to  the  platform — The  night  of  the  "Infernal  Machine" 
— Garat's  last  public  appearance — Garat  at  the  Opera 

When  after  renewed  foreign  triumphs  our  singer 
returned  to  Paris  the  Concert  Feydeau  was  no 
more.  Later,  in  the  year  VIII,  it  was  replaced 
by  the  concerts  of  the  Rue  de  Clery.  The  director 
responsible  for  these  was  Bondy,  ex-prefect  of  the 
Seine ;  advised  by  Cherubini,  Breval,  Perignon, 
Duvernoy,  de  Crisnoy,  and  Devilliers.  The 
orchestra,  of  twenty-four  players,  was  conducted 
by  Grasset  ;  the  choral  singing  by  Plantade. 
Tickets  for  twelve  concerts  were  sold  for  72  francs, 
and  there  were  more  than  six  hundred  sub- 
scribers. 

Garat  was  a  frequent  performer  at  these  concerts. 
One  of  his  greater  efforts  was  the   production   of 

247 


Pierre  Garat 

portions  of  Gluck's  Iphigenia  in  Tauris,  and 
Orpheus;  two  acts  of  the  former  opera  were  per- 
formed and  nearly  the  whole  of  the  latter.  The 
artists  who  assisted  him  were  Blangini,  Martinelli, 
and  Mmes.  Branchu,  Bolla,  Durat,  Armand,  Duver- 
noy.  Roche  and  Kreutzer  were  the  solo  violinists 
of  these  concerts,  and  the  symphonies  of  Haydn 
held  a  place  of  honour  on  the  programme. 

At  rehearsals  an  amusing  glimpse  of  Garat  the 
artist — one  might  say  the  natural  Garat — was  seen. 
Each  singer  was  accustomed  to  bring  to  rehearsals 
one  of  his  pupils,  as  understudy,  or,  on  occasion, 
to  double  his  part.  Garat,  too  languid  or  too 
experienced  to  consider  it  proper  that  he  himself 
should  rehearse,  used  to  make  his  pupil  sing  his 
parts.  However,  he  was  never  fully  satisfied  with 
the  pupil's  performance,  and  proceeded  to  give  a 
meticulous  practical  lesson  on  the  platform  ;  sing- 
ing every  passage  himself,  and  insisting  on  repe- 
tition until  all  was  perfect.  The  result  was  that 
rehearsals  were  lengthy  ;  but  they  were  enlivened 
by  scenes  of  comedy  which  delighted  every  one 
but  Garat. 

After  a  few  years  these  concerts  were  continued 
in  another  part  of  Paris,  but  the  public  did  not 
follow,  and  they  shortly  came  to  an  end. 

Garat  was  by  this  time  the  idol  or  the  jest  of 
leisured  Paris.  Represented  on  the  stage,  the 
subject  of  epigrams  and  satires,  he  received  every 

248 


Professor  of  Singing  and  the  Mode 

day  a  sheaf  of  verses,  sent  him  by  admirers  of 
either  sex.  He  was  sought,  as  performer,  by  every 
aspiring  hostess  ;  he  was  welcomed,  as  guest,  by 
the  best  of  intellectual  France.  A  hard  worker, 
he  found  ample  time  for  play.  A  leader  of  fashion, 
eventually  king  of  the  Incroyables,  the  profession 
of  exquisite  was  as  arduous  as  that  of  singer.  It 
was  his  duty,  as  arbiter  of  fashion,  to  be  seen 
at  the  right  places  and  at  the  right  time.  This, 
as  all  Paris  was  dancing,  meant  attendance  at  all 
the  more  fashionable  ballrooms.  In  the  Hotel 
Biron,  the  Hotel  d'Aligre,  the  Cercle  d'Harmonie, 
the  Vauxhall  in  the  Rue  de  Bondy,  the  Bal  de 
T£chiquier,  the  Pavilion  Saint-Honore,  the  Maison 
d'Orsay,  and  the  famous  Bal  des  Victimes  one  was 
sure  to  see  Garat  on  the  days  when  and  in  the 
place  where  attendance  was  a  social  duty ;  his 
dark,  sleepy  eyes  shining  half-maliciously  beneath 
his  shock  of  curly  tresses,  his  impertinent  nose 
nearly  touching  his  vast  cravat,  his  slender  feet 
and  calves  apparently  too  fragile  to  support 
the  bottle-necked  oblong  of  heavy  tail-coat 
and  gaily-striped  waistcoat  which  formed  the 
body  of  the  incroyable.  At  the  Bal  des 
Victimes  he  received  supreme  honours,  which 
declared  him,  incontestably,  the  most  fashionable 
man  in  France ;  with  Trenis,  later  Comte  de 
Chatillon,  the  perfect  dancer,  and  in  a  social  sense 
a  rival,  he  was  the  partner  of  Mme.  Tallien  on 
the  occasion  of  her  appearance  colffee  a  la  Titus; 

249 


Pierre  Garat 

in  English,  with  a  head  of  short  curls.  It  was  a 
historical  occasion ;  the  other  guests  abandoned 
the  floor,  those  behind  the  foremost  forgetting 
decorum  and  climbing  upon  chairs,  to  see  Garat 
and  Trenis  and  the  divine  Teresa  tread  a  measure 
at  the  Bal  des  Victimes. 

Judge  if  Garat  was  pursued  by  his  fair  adorers  ! 
It  was  an  age  of  generosity ;  those  ladies  who 
now,  after  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, once  more  encountered  their  lovers  of  the 
ancien  regime,  were  ready  to  accord  them  any 
favour,  even  to  that  of  loving  them  again.  As 
emigre's  returned,  as  the  destitute  recovered,  as 
the  refugees  reappeared,  there  were  many  such 
meetings.  As  for  the  women  of  the  younger  world, 
a  youth  of  fear  and  repression  had  taught  them 
to  ask  for  what  they  wanted.  We  obtain  an  idea 
of  the  pursuit  to  which  Garat  was  accustomed, 
and  also  a  flavour  of  his  sometimes  delicious  im- 
pertinence, in  his  reply  to  a  young  woman,  who 
indignantly  complained  of  having  received  an 
extremely  crude  declaration.  "  Tut  !  "  said  Garat, 
"so  such  things  happen  to  women  also?" 

In  the  year  1797  the  Republican  Calendar 
ceased  to  be  compulsory.  Anniversaries  were  no 
longer  "  suspect."  New  Year's  Day  was  cele- 
brated that  year,  as  a  day  of  deliverance  out 
of  the  bonds  of  Egypt.  Carriages  came  into  vogue 
once  more — cabriolets,  phaetons,  buggies,  carrioles, 

250 


Professor  of  Singing  and  the  Mode 

everything  that  was  light  and  ran  upon  two  wheels. 
Anglomania  seized  the  drivers,  whose  ambition  it 
was  to  look  like  their  own  conception  of  an  English 
coachman.  Weri-woll!  was  the  fashionable  salu- 
tation. [Query:  very  well,  acquired  from  English 
grooms  ?] 

In  this  year,  with  the  reintroduction  of  carriages, 
the  festival  of  carriages  was  also  restored  :  Long- 
champs,  with  a  difference,  for  now  the  cabriolet, 
the  buggy,  the  "  wisky  "  was  all  the  rage.  Again 
that  carnival  of  luxury  and  ostentation  set  out  from 
and  returned  to  Paris  ;  again  the  famous  courtesans 
passed  in  triumph  ;  the  great  ladies  of  the  new 
world,  Mmes.  Recamier  and  Tallien,  "  shone  like 
gentle  suns  in  the  crowd  "  ;  Franconi,  the  ring- 
master, dispatched  his  band  in  a  gorgeous  gondola 
on  wheels  ;  after  it  his  troop  of  riders  ;  after  them 
a  vehicular  epigram,  a  huge  derelict  carriage, 
suspended  by  ropes  in  place  of  straps,  held 
together  by  knotted  cords,  the  wheels  patched, 
the  whole  drawn  at  a  funeral  pace  by  six 
skeleton  horses.  Within  were  six  men  even 
thinner  than  the  horses,  and  the  sides  of  the 
carriage  bore  the  legend  :  Car  of  the  Rentiers, 
the  "  independent  gentlemen." 

But  all  eyes  are  not  on  the  carriages.  Observe 
the  cohorts  of  the  muscadlns,  a  year  or  two  later 
the  incroyables ;  their  eyes,  full  of  a  brutal  and 
assumed  indifference,  or  a  languid  and  humble 
arrogance,    are    restless  ;    there    is    a    turning    of 

251 


Pierre  Garat 

bodies,  for  the  head  cannot  be  turned  ;  chins  lift 
almost  from  their  encircling  cravats  ;  lunettes  are 
perched  upon  inquiring  noses. 

It  is  Garat  they  seek  :  this  year  and  for  many 
a  year ;  Garat,  whose  attire  this  day  will  be  a 
work  of  reflective  and  responsible  art ;  his  cravat 
will  set  the  fashion  in  cravats  until  he  alters  it ; 
his  walk,  his  coat,  his  waistcoat — the  number  of 
pocket-flaps,  the  number  and  size  of  buttons — oh, 
a  host  of  details  must  all  be  noted  and  remem- 
bered ;  and  if  one  has  the  honour  of  his  acquaint- 
ance perhaps  he  will  divulge  the  name  of  the 
haberdasher  who  can  give  lessons  in  the  confection 
of  the  real  cravat.  He  is  seen  at  length  with  a 
company  of  followers  :  amazing  figures,  delicately 
fingering  their  knotted  cudgels  ;  eyes  and  noses 
visible  between  the  hat  and  the  masterpiece  of 
muslin  that  escapes  from  the  high-collared  coat ; 
walking  with  a  slow,  curious  swagger,  speaking 
in  high,  affected  tones,  the  lips  not  moving,  the 
consonants  omitted.  Behind  them  a  retinue  of 
curious  spectators  ;  before  them  way  is  made  ;  on 
either  side  the  throng  admires  or  temerariously 
derides. 

These  followers  of  Garat's  are  the  men  of  the 
black  collars,  the  men  of  the  paole  d'honneu.  For 
at  the  height  of  his  influence,  at  the  summit  of 
his  career,  as  a  piece  of  genuine  affectation  or 
a  secret,  stupendous  jest,  Garat  demonstrated  the 

252 


Professor  of  Singing  and  the  Mode 

full  extent  of  his  power  by  infecting  Paris  with 
garatism:  a  disease  of  articulation,  which  ran  its 
course,  through  many  phases,  like  a  fever  no  self- 
respecting  person  could  escape. 

Was  the  origin  of  the  pose  mechanical  ?  Did 
it  arise  from  the  difficulty  of  moving  the  lower 
jaw,  which  fitted  so  snugly  its  nest  of  folded 
muslin?  Was  it  psychological — did  it  arise  from 
the  desire  to  preserve,  even  in  speaking,  an  immo- 
bile and  expressionless  face?  Did  the  letter  R, 
that  glory  of  sonorous  French,  indeed,  as  Garat 
professed,  offend  his  fastidious  ear?  Surely  not, 
for  he  never  ignored  it  as  a  singer  ! 

Be  that  as  it  may,  Garat  began  to  lisp,  to 
zezayer ;  he  declared  the  letter  R  an  outlaw.  And 
at  once  all  Paris  began  to  lisp ;  it  murmured, 
it  spoke  in  a  gentle,  infantile  prattle  ;  and  the 
languid  pronunciation  was  followed  by  languid 
looks  and  attitudes  ;  great  hulking  cudgel-bearers, 
proud  of  their  muscles,  riders,  runners,  fencers, 
swimmers,  leaned  upon  mantel  or  chair-back  as 
though  too  weary  to  stand,  or  sank  limply  upon 
sofas,  in  the  posture  of  one  about  to  swoon.  But 
the  cudgel  never  left  the  hand  ;  and  if  some  sacri- 
legious democrat  laid  his  paws  upon  the  "  black 
collar  "  the  gentle  "  ze  vous  taewai  "  was  likely 
to  prove  suddenly  true.  These  languid  lispers 
more  than  once  beat  off  charges  of  mounted 
troops. 

Whether    the   attack   upon    other    letters    of   the 

253 


Pierre  Garat 

alphabet  was  also  due  to  Garat  is  not  clear.  D  was 
for  a  time  taboo  ;  then  Ch,  then  G,  and  so  forth. 
Finally  the  disease  attacked  all  France,  though 
sparing  the  lower  orders,  and  there  were  thousands 
who  spoke  a  kind  of  baby-language  or  "  nigger 
French."  The  satirists,  be  sure,  were  busy;  here 
is  a  passage  from  the  Journal  des  Incroyables  ou 
les  Hommes  a  paole  cThonneu,  the  date  being  the 
year  III.  It  describes  a  scene  at  the  theatre: 
"  Tout  d'un  coup  des  c'is  d'enfant  pa'tent  du  fond 
d'une  loze,  ou  tou'ne  les  yeux  de  ce  cote  pou' 
fai'e  cesser  le  b'uit ;  mais  quelle  est  la  su'p'ise 
commune  !  la  Duza'din  en  t'avail  d'enfant,  et  ce 
n'etait  aut'e  cose  que  le  petit  poupon  qui  avait 
atti'e  nos  ega'ds  !  " 

The  date  of  this  fashion,  we  have  seen,  was 
1795  :  tne  year  of  Garat's  return  to  Paris.  Was  it 
a  result  of  his  ambition  to  acquire  the  Brittanic 
"  phlegm  "?  Or  was  it  a  deliberate  advertisement? 
•Whatever  the  truth,  it  was  a  fashion  that  lasted, 
and  one  fact  is  curiously  arresting  :  during  these 
years  Garat's  art  was  at  its  highest,  its  most 
sincere,  and  never,  on  the  platform,  was  his 
articulation  other  than  perfect. 

As  Garat  made  the  fashions,  so  they  helped 
to  make  him,  by  bearing  his  name.  Coats, 
cravats,  canes,  spy-glasses,  boots,  gloves,  waist- 
coats :  all  were  a  La  Garat.  Proud  of  a  neat 
ankle,   a  slender  foot,   he   went   to  a  lady's   shoe- 

254 


Professor  of  Singing  and  the  Mode 

maker  for  his  boots  :  a  fashion  at  once  followed 
by  all  the  elegant  youth  of  Paris. 

His  eminence  carried  with  it  a  serious  responsi- 
bility. He  set  the  fashions  for  an  extravagant 
world  to  which  wealth  was  returning.  As  a  result, 
in  spite  of  his  fees  as  a  singer,  which  for  those 
days  were  extraordinary,  he  was  usually  in  debt. 
There  was  now,  alas  !  no  Marie  Antoinette  to  pay 
his  debts.  The  embroidery  of  a  coat  cost  £120; 
his  waistcoats  were  lined  with  the  most  costly  satin  ; 
his  cravat  demanded  yards  of  the  finest  batiste, 
and  his  slippers  were  adorned  by  diamond  buckles. 

At  the  risk  of  repetition,  we  must  cite,  for  the 
last  time,  a  few  impressions  of  this  Tsar  of  the 
modes  as  he  appeared  to  his  contemporaries. 

His  head  and  shoulders  were  compared  to  the 
end  of  a  Bologna  sausage.  Mme.  Junot  has  a 
brief  impression  :  "  Garat  thrust  his  head  for  a 
moment  out  of  the  vast  length  of  muslin  in  which 
he  was  swathed  and  which  served  him  as  cravat ; 
then  he  took  up  a  spy-glass  which  resembled  rather 
a  reading-glass."  Here  is  a  fuller  description, 
of  a  somewhat  later  date,  for  whiskers  appear  : 
"  Leader  of  the  Incroyables,  one  must  have  seen 
him,  his  hair  cut  very  short  on  the  nape,  curled 
and  trained  over  the  forehead ;  with  his  tiny 
whiskers  framing  his  cheeks,  the  face  imprisoned 
between  the  coat -collar,  which  covered  the  neck, 
and  the  cravat  enclosing  the  chin ;  the  hair  hiding 
the    forehead,    revealing    nothing    of    his    comical, 

255 


Pierre  Garat 

grimacing  face  but  his  little  piercing  eyes  and  his 
gimlet  nose.  .  .  .  And  those  long  coats,  pierced 
with  pockets  on  every  side,  adorned  with  enormous 
revers,  and  extravagant  collars  ;  the  ample  over- 
coats, with  enormous  hanging  skirts,  with  four, 
five,  or  even  six  capes,  the  diminishing  gradation 
of  which  was  not  unlike  a  monstrous  toadstool, 
with  narrow  sleeves  so  long  that  they  had  to  be 
turned  back  to  show  the  finger-tips  ;  and  the  gloves 
with  yellow  gauntlets,  decorated  on  the  back  with 
elaborate  embroidery  and  ornament ;  and  the 
waistcoat,  with  two  rows  of  huge  buttons,  dark 
and  light  materials  joined  in  vertical  stripes.  .  .  . 
On  the  puce  coat  with  collar  of  velvet  the  nankeen 
breeches  and  silken  stockings  and  the  buckled 
slippers,  which  constituted  his  evening  dress. 
Nankeen  pantaloons  he  reserved  for  the  city,  he 
wore  them  at  times  stopping  at  the  ancle  and 
strapped  tightly,  or  sometimes  split  up  the  side 
and  buttoned  ;  sometimes  they  were  fastened  with 
a  buckle  or  brooch."  To  such  a  luminary  every- 
thing was  permissible. 

If  once  he  was  deprived  of  his  queue  to  please 
the  manhood  of  Paris,  a  time  soon  came  when  they 
would  have  worn  the  Celestial  pigtail  had  he  so 
ordained.  His  retorts  remind  us  of  a  famous 
English  poseur:  "  M.  Garat,  you  are  a  true 
nightingale  !  "  "  Go  to  the  devil,  sir,  the 
nightingale    sings    out    of    tune  ! "     "  Garat,    have 

256 


Professor  of  Singing  and  the  Mode 

you  seen  So-and-so's  picture  at  the  exhibition?  A 
beautiful  thing  !  "  "  If  it  is  beautiful  I  have  seen 
it."  "  My  dear  M.  Garat,  one  does  not  point  at 
people  with  one's  finger!"  "No?  With  what 
does  one  point?  " 

We  have  seen  that  he  threatened  Talleyrand  that 
he  would  never  again  visit  his  house,  because  he 
had  been  forced  to  wait.  Garat  himself  was 
usually  late.  Here  is  an  anecdote  which  gives 
some  idea  of  the  popularity  of  the  man,  the  intense 
curiosity  to  see  and  hear  him.  Treilhard,  the 
Director,  did  not  know  Garat,  and  was  not  of  his 
world.  Socially  ambitious,  he  conceived  the  idea 
of  securing  Garat  as  an  attraction.  Dominique- 
Joseph,  the  ex-Minister,  was  often  approached  by 
those  who  desired  introduction  to  his  nephew,  or 
were  anxious  to  obtain  his  services.  To  the  old 
Euskarian  Treilhard  applied,  and  not  unsuccess- 
fully. He  hastened  to  send  forth  his  invitations, 
having  also  obtained  the  services  of  Lays,  Cheron, 
and  Piccini. 

A  numerous  company  appeared  on  the  appointed 
day  :  but  no  Garat.  The  dinner-hour  passed  :  no 
Garat.  Treilhard  talked  nervously,  but  his  guests 
were  cold  or  impatient ;  he  divulged  an  im- 
portant piece  of  news,  concerning  the  crossing  of 
the  Rhine  by  the  French  troops  ;  at  length,  in 
despair,  he  gave  the  signal  for  dinner.  The  guests 
ate  their  soup  in  chilly  silence  ;  a  dreadful  gloom 
was  on  the  company,  when  in  walked  Garat.     A 

257  R 


Pierre  Garat 

thousand  pardons,  but  he  had  lost  his  way,  not 
knowing  that  part  of  Paris.  An  ill-mannered  duke, 
dining  improbably  in  the  wilds  of  Clapham,  might 
have  employed  such  a  tone.  Yet  a  smile  appeared 
on  every  face  ;  those  who  had  not  seen  Garat 
saw  him ;  those  who  had  not  heard  him  were 
to  hear  ;  if  some  had  seen  and  heard  already,  it 
was  an  experience  which  never  palled.  When 
after  dinner  he  was  led  to  the  piano  the  delight 
of  his  hearers  was  delirious  ;  yet  most  of  them 
were  absolutely  unmusical,  even  uncultured.  But 
Garat,  capable  of  slighting  a  Director,  was  never 
known  to  slight  his  art. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  his  sincerity  of  ex- 
pression. All  affectation  fell  away  from  him  when 
he  sang.  Once  he  appeared  in  Mme.  Junot's 
salon  with  his  pupil  Nourrit,1  about  to  appear  on 
the  stage.  Nourrit  had  a  beautiful  voice  but  sang 
utterly  without  expression.  Garat  was  finally 
exasperated.  "  But  how  you  sing  those  lines  !  " 
he  cried,  and  with  the  appropriate  gesture,  in  a 
voice  fit  to  bring  tears  to  the  eyes,  he  sang  : — 

"  '  Je  vais  revoir  ma  charmante  maitresse, 
Adieu  plaisirs,  grandeurs,  richesse  !  ' 

Wretched  fellow  !  Haven't  you  a  mistress  whom 
you  left  a  month  ago  and  don't  you  long  to  see 
her  again?  " 

1  Father  of  the  celebrated  Nourrit. 
258 


Professor  of  Singing  and  the   Mode 

This  recalls  a  somewhat  similar  occasion.  Garat 
was  singing  the  passionate  duet  which  follows  the 
duel  scene  in  Don  Giovanni.  The  lady  was  cold 
and  correct.  "  What,  madame  !  "  cried  Garat  :  "  so 
calm,  with  the  corpse  at  your  feet  !  " 

Mme.  Junot's  was  one  of  the  houses  in  which 
he  was  truly  at  home.  It  may  be  mentioned  here 
that  in  1806  Junot  returned  from  Parma  with  loot 
of  a  kind  that  enchanted  Garat  :  a  hundred  or 
more  manuscript  copies  of  pieces  by  Cimarosa, 
Fioraventi,  Guglielmi,  and  other  Italian  masters. 
Mme.  Junot  at  once  advised  the  singer  of  the 
arrival  of  this  treasure,  and  he  spent  days  in  going 
through  it,  sometimes  seated  at  the  piano,  some- 
times pacing  to  and  fro,  reading  it,  as  he  could 
by  then,  without  much  difficulty,  and  singing  below 
his  breath.  It  was  in  this  salon,  again,  that  he 
first  sang  Cherubini's  aria  from  Les  Abencerages  :— 

"  Suspendez  a  ces  murs  mes  armes,  ma  banniere." 

Here  his  affectations  left  him  ;  he  was  simple, 
natural,  delightful.  With  General  Clouet,  himself 
a  singer,  he  would  argue  for  hours  the  respective 
merits  of  Handel  and  Haydn  :  a  species  of 
musical  criticism  which  never  failed  to  attract  an 
attentive  audience.  He  would  sing  for  hours  ; 
sometimes,  tiring  of  the  grand  manner,  sitting  at 
the  piano,  playing  accompaniments  with  two 
fingers,  he  would  return  to  his  old  Basque 
airs,    or    the    boleros    of    Aragon,    or    snatches    of 

259 


Pierre  Garat 

Crescentini  :  Numi  se  giusti  siete,  Addio!  or  Clori 
la  pastorella.  With  a  little  pressing  he  would  sing 
certain  compositions  of  his  own,  to  which  we  shall 
return  later. 

Is  the  following  an  example  of  his  sincerity  in 
art,  or  his  love  of  attracting  attention  ?  Coupigny 
had  supplied  him  with  a  "  romance  "  to  be  set 
to  music.  Whenever  the  two  met  Garat  replied, 
"  I  have  not  hit  upon  an  idea  as  yet."  One  day 
Coupigny  was  walking  down  the  Rue  Neuve-des- 
Petits-Champs.  Hearing  a  sound  of  some  one 
running  behind  him,  he  turned ;  it  was  Garat, 
who  seized  him  by  the  arm,  dragged  him  up  the 
stairs  of  a  neighbouring  house,  and,  halting  on 
the  first  landing,  exclaimed,  "  I've  got  it  !  "  and 
incontinently  sang  the  romance  through  at  the  top 
of  his  voice.  The  inhabitants  of  the  house  began 
to  open  their  doors  ;  heads  were  projected  over 
the  banisters  ;  finally  they  began  to  approach  ;  but 
Garat,  having  finished,  tore  down  •  the  stairs  like 
a  monkey,  dragging  the  bewildered  poet  with  him. 

He  was,  of  course,  spoiled,  and  had  his  little 
vanities.  Eventually  one  had  to  beg  him  to  sing. 
He  required  some  considerable  persuasion  before 
consenting.  History  does  not  relate  if  his  first 
refusal  was  ever  accepted. 

It  is  time  to  refer  to  Garat's  career  as  teacher. 
At  the  height  of  his  fame  he  was  able  to  commence 

260 


■J<k^M 


MME.    JINOT. 

(Duchesse  d'Abrantes ;  nee  Laure  Pennon.) 

From  a  lithograph. 


Professor  of  Singing  and  the   Mode 

the  work  that  in  his  later  years  filled  his  life.     It 
was,  for  him,  as  we  shall  see,  a  happy  chance. 

When  the  National  Guard  was  created  in  1790 
a  corps  de  musique  was  established.  From  this 
evolved  the  Conservatoire,  which  three  years  later, 
in  November,  1793,  was  founded  under  the  name 
of  the  National  Institute  of  Music.  This,  to  a 
certain  extent,  replaced  the  old  Royal  College  of 
Singing,  founded  in  1784  by  the  Comte  de 
Breteuil,  a  member  of  the  royal  household. 
Sarrette,  the  first  principal  of  the  corps  de 
musique,  was  the  first  director  of  the  Institute. 
The  first  professors  were  Gaines  and  Rode,  both 
fellow-citizens  of  Garat's,  Baillot,  Kreutzer,  Jeanson, 
Levasseur,  Vanderlick,  Devienne,  and  Valentin ; 
while  Gretry,  Gossec,  Cherubini,  Lesueur,  and 
Mehul  were  among  the  visiting  inspectors.  The 
latter,  with  two  others,  were  instructed  "  to  develop 
the  theories  of  the  musical  art."  In  1796  Garat 
was  engaged  to  assist  them  as  "  professor  of  the 
class  of  perfecting  song  "  :  as  we  should  say,  of 
the  "  finishing  "  class.  The  idea  of  thus  employ- 
ing Garat  was  due  to  Sarrette,  who  was  familiar 
with  his  brilliant  and  illuminating  conversation  on 
the  subject  of  music,  and  in  especial  the  technique 
of  song.  Garat  was  of  all  men  the  right  man 
in  the  right  place  ;  his  whole  life  had  been  devoted 
to  perfecting  his  own  talent ;  being  keenly  self- 
conscious  and  analytical,  as  the  great  dandy  must 
be,   he   was   able   to   explain   the   processes   of  his 

261 


Pierre  Garat 

own  training  ;  he  had  already  been  highly  suc- 
cessful with  his  pupils,  and  his  very  name  was 
an  advertisement.  In  the  event  he  was  such  a 
professor  as  the  Conservatoire  has  never  seen  since, 
as  is  proved  by  the  list  of  his  successes. 

The  day  of  his  decline  as  singer  and  exquisite 
was  still  remote  ;  when  it  came,  the  Conservatoire 
was  a  solace,  a  refuge,  almost  a  home.  Here, 
among  young  and  eager  pupils,  he  was  able  to 
savour  that  adoration,  that  wondering  enthusiasm, 
that  affection  which  was  once  his  due  from  the 
world. 

From  the  first,  however,  he  was  at  home  ;    his 

fellow-teachers    were    for    the    most    part    old   and 

tried  friends,   who  rated  his  abilities  at  their  true 

worth,      which     alone     meant     much     to     Garat  : 

Gavinies,  "  who  may  be  regarded  as  the  head  and 

founder   of   the    French    school   of   violin-playing ; 

Baillot,   the  best  player  of  his  time  ;    Rode,  with 

his  graceful  technique  ;    Kreutzer,  who  with  neither 

the   grace   of   Rode   nor   the   mechanical   precision 

of  Baillot,  possessed  a  dashing  energy  and  a  power 

of   expressing   impassioned   feeling  "  ;  '     Boieldieu, 

his     old     comrade     of    the     Rouen     days  ;     Jadin  ; 

Devienne,  whose  songs  he  sang  ;     '  Gretry,  Gossec, 

and  Cherubini,  whose  greatest  works  he  interpreted 

with  so  much  grace  and  charm."     Other  members 

of  the  staff  were  Eller,  professor  of  counterpoint,  the 

composer  of  L habit  du   Chevalier  de   Grammont ; 

1  Lafond. 
262 


Professor  of  Singing  and  the  Mode 

B'enoist,  organist ;  and  Adam,  professor  of  the 
piano,  late  music-master  to  the  children  of  Marat 
and  the  children  of  half  the  dignitaries  of  the 
Imperial   Court. 

These  were  his  especial  friends  ;  but  the  staff 
of  the  Conservatoire  actually  numbered  no.  They 
were  divided  into  three  classes,  and  their 
salaries  were  determined  by  a  decree  of  the 
1 6th  Thermidor,  1795.  Garat,  as  professor  of 
the  first  class,  received  a  salary  of  £100,  with 
the  right  to  retire  after  twenty  years  upon  half- 
pay  :  a  beggarly  sum,  even  for  an  artist  employed 
by  a  Government,  and  a  ridiculous  income  for  one 
who  had  often  earned  as  much  in  a  single  evening. 
However,  he  loved  his  art ;  he  was  an  affectionate 
friend,  and  essentially  sociable,  and  admiration  was 
as  sunshine.  The  knowledge  that  he  was  advancing 
his  art  and  the  hero-worship  of  a  generation  of 
students  was  his  real  reward. 

By  law  he  was  obliged  to  give  fifteen  lessons 
a  month,  but  twice  a  month  could  be  excused  if 
he  could  find  a  substitute. 

To  avoid  interrupting  the  narrative  of  his  further 
career,  the  history  of  his  connection  with  the 
Conservatoire  may  well  be  given  here. 

He  was,  with  his  pupils,  to  the  fore  in  all 
concerts  or  important  festivals  held  in  the  Con- 
servatoire. We  have  a  few  records  of  such.  In 
1 80 1,  before  the  Minister  of  the  Interior,  there 
was    a    students'    concert ;     four   months    later,    on 

263 


Pierre  Garat 

the  anniversary  of  the  foundation  of  the  Conser- 
vatoire, the  first  stone  of  the  library  was  laid  by 
Chaptal,  Minister  of  the  Interior  :  an  occasion 
marked  by  the  striking  of  medals,  an  address  by 
Chaptal,  and  a  concert  given  by  the  students.  A 
banquet  followed,  at  which  the  prize-winners  among 
the  students  were  present,  and  at  nine  o'clock  a 
ball    was   opened. 

The  usual  procedure  in  the  case  of  students  of 
singing  was  for  Lays  and  Plantade  to  take  them 
through  a  course  of  vocalization  and  the  study  of 
operatic  parts  ;  they  were  then  passed  on  to  Garat, 
who  "  finished  "  them,  teaching  them  the  delicacies 
of  production  and  vocalization  of  which  he  was 
such  a  master  ;  last  of  all  they  were  passed  on 
to  Laine,  who  trained  them  in  "  lyric  declama- 
tion." It  is  not  altogether  surprising  that  Garat 
was  not  on  the  best  of  terms  with  Lays  and 
Plantade  ;  the  latter  in  particular  he  regarded  with 
absolute  hatred,  a  most  unusual  thing  for  Garat. 
With  the  rest  of  his  staff  his  relations  were  of 
the   happiest. 

Garat's  career  as  a  concert-singer  was  now  to 
be  closed.  During  the  Consulate  his  uncle, 
Dominique-Joseph,  was  once  more  a  person  of 
importance,  and  anxious  to  forget  that  he  had 
ever  been  a  Jacobin.  It  was  tolerable  that  a 
nephew  of  his  should  gain  a  hundred  pounds  a 
year   in   a   Government   institution  ;     but   now   that 

264 


Professor  of  Singing  and  the   Mode 

the  free-and-easy  days  of  the  Directory  were  over 
it  was  impossible  that  a  relation  should  for  money 
perform  in  public.  He  therefore  offered  the  singer 
a  respectable  income  on  condition  that  he  would 
bid  farewell  to  the  public.  Garat  consented,  un- 
willing to  offend  his  uncle  or  to  damage  his 
prospects  ;  the  more  readily,  perhaps,  as  the  sums 
to  be  made  by  singing  at  concerts  were  not  com- 
parable to  those  earned  by  appearing  at  private 
receptions   and   dinner-parties. 

Once  only  did  he  again  appear  in  public,  and 
on  that  occasion  we  may  suppose  that  his  uncle 
agreed  to  his  doing  so.  This  was  in  the  year  IX, 
on  the  3rd  of  Nivose.  Haydn's  Creation  was  to 
be  performed  at  the  Opera.  It  was  to  be  almost 
a  State  performance  ;  the  First  Consul  was  ex- 
pected with  all  his  staff.  Steibelt,  the  popular 
pianist,  had  arranged  the  oratorio  for  the  orchestra  ; 
the  chorus  of  the  Opera  was  reinforced  by  that 
of  the  Theatre  Feydeau.  Garat,  who  with  the 
Abbe  Rose  had  been  responsible  for  all  the 
rehearsals,  was  to  sing  the  part  of  Gabriel. 

The  hour  struck  ;  the  body  of  the  Opera, 
brilliantly  illuminated,  was  full  from  gallery  to 
floor  ;  the  women  in  marvellous  toilettes,  the  men 
in  the  magnificence  of  uniform.  The  curtain  rose, 
revealing  Gabriel,  in  the  person  of  Garat,  more 
fantastically  dressed  than  ever  ;  "  his  collar  rose 
above  his  head,  and  his  face,  not  unlike  a 
monkey's,    was    barely    visible    amid    a    forest    of 

265 


Pierre  Garat 

curls."  Beside  him  was  Mme.  Barbier-Wal- 
bonne,  a  figure  of  classic  simplicity.  The  violins 
were  tuned  ;  the  orchestra  attacked  the  introduc- 
tory bars,  when  a  sudden  detonation  startled  the 
crowded  assembly.  The  audience  sat  and  stared 
or  whispered,  uneasy  or  curious,  when  the  door 
of  the  First  Consul's  box  was  opened,  and  Napoleon 
entered  with  Lannes,  Lauriston,  Berthier,  and 
Duroc.  Presently  Josephine  followed,  pale  and 
agitated,  with  Mmes.  Murat  and  Duroc  and  Colonel 
Rapp.  The  rumour  ran,  from  seat  to  seat,  from 
parterre  to  gallery,  that  the  First  Consul  had 
narrowly  escaped  death.  The  detonation  had  been 
caused  by  the  explosion  of  the  historic  "  infernal 
machine  "  of  the  Rue  Saint-Nicaise.  Eight 
persons  lay  dead  or  dying  without ;  twenty- 
eight  were  wounded  ;  forty-six  houses  were 
damaged.  The  performance  continued,  but  was 
artistically  a  failure  ;  the  audience  for  once  had 
other  things  than  music  and  the  fashions  in  mind. 
So  much,  for  the  present,  for  his  career  at  the 
Conservatoire,  and  the  end  of  his  fame  as  a  concert- 
singer.  Henceforth  Garat  was  in  all  ways  more 
difficult  of  access.  In  promising  his  uncle  to 
appear  no  more  in  public  it  was  probably  agreed 
that  he  was  to  sing  for  no  hostess  below  a  certain 
social  standard.  Henceforth  he  was  to  be  heard 
in  fewer  salons,  and  those  the  more  famous  ;  but 
he  was  thereby  not  the  loser  ;  his  hearers  were 
better  equipped  to  appreciate  his  art,  and  the  com- 

266 


Professor  of  Singing  and  the  Mode 

petition  to   secure  him  was  only  equalled   by  the 

eagerness  of  the  public  to  gain  access  to  the  houses 

of  his   patrons  or  friends.      By  becoming  a  little 

remote,    a    little    mythical,    so    to    speak,    he    only 

became   more   wonderful.      As   a   dandy   he   stood 

alone,  "  the  promoter  and  the  slave  of  the  fashions, 

marching    with    tiny    steps    along    the    streets    and 

promenades     of    Paris,    amid    a     wondering     and 

admiring     population,     full     of     thought     for    his 

own   person  ;    .    .    .   wearing   a   light   blue   coat   or 

a    riding-coat    of    alpaca    with    a    double    row    of 

buttons,     a     cloth     waistcoat,     often     red,     .     .     . 

breeches    of    chamois-leather,    and    black    boots — 

very  soon  they  will  be  red— adorned  in  front  with 

a  golden  tassel."  l 

In  his  quality  as  professor  at  the  Conservatoire 

he   had,   of   course,   much   to   do  with   the   Opera. 

His  pupils  were  constantly  making  their  debut  on 

its   boards ;     he    must    be    there    to    encourage,    to 

criticize,   and  to  taste  the  reward  of  labour.      He 

was    almost    as    often    seen    at    the    Theatre   de   la 

Cour,  where  the  grand  opera  of  Zingarelli,  Bianchi, 

or   Paer   was   represented,   or  the   opera   bouffe  of 

Cimarosa,  Farinelli,  or  Paisiello  ;    or  again  at  the 

Odeon,  where  Picard  directed  an  Italian  company. 

The  green-rooms  of  all  Paris  were  his  club  ;    and 

in   things   dramatic,   as   in   matters  of  music  or  of 

fashion,     he    was    always    the    arbiter,    the    ready 

adviser,  the  kindly  but  supreme  pontiff. 

1  Lafond. 
267 


CHAPTER    XIII 
A   CHANGING   WORLD— A   LOVE   AFFAIR 

The  society  of  the  Consulate— A  changing  world — Garat's  relations 
with  the  new  rulers — Malmaison ;  Talleyrand ;  Mme.  de 
Montesson — Garat  and  Napoleon — Mme.  Recamier — Lucien 
Bonaparte  —  Garat  at  the  Tuileries  —  He  is  decorated  — 
Napoleon's  favour  lost— Garat's  salary  is  withheld — Josephine  j 
Mme.  Saint-Jean  d'Angely — Mme.  Tallien ;  Mme.  Junot ; 
Jaubert — Garat's  affair  with  Mme.  de  Kriidener — Her  early 
life — Her  third  visit  to  Paris — She  meets  Garat — Her  public 
worship  of  the  singer — He  snubs  her — Valerie — An  inspired 
press  agent — Napoleon  snubs  her — Saint,  confessor  to  a  Tsar, 
and  evil  genius  to  Napoleon. 

The  society  of  the  Consulate  was  another  world 
than  that  of  the  Directoire.  The  world  of  young 
people,  thirsty  for  pleasure,  was  gradually  darkened 
by  the  return  of  emigres,  not  always  the 
most  admirable  of  their  class,  soured  by  dis- 
appointment and  exile,  embittered  by  humiliation 
and  insult,  contemptuous  of  the  new  rulers  and 
all  who  accepted  them,  censorious,  ill-natured, 
cynical.  Of  these  some  held  aloof  ;  others  eagerly 
sought  office  ;  and  the  official  world  itself  assumed 
a  definite  hierarchy,  a  military  and  aristocratic  tone. 

268 


A  Changing  World 

To  seize  the  exact  flavour  of  the  Paris  of  those 
days  is  not  easy.  According  to  the  point  of  view, 
society  presented  many  different  aspects,  as  must 
be  the  case  with  a  large  and  heterogeneous  com- 
munity. Mme.  de  Chastenay,  living  the  some- 
what sheltered  life  of  a  gentlewoman  of  the  old 
world  adapting  herself  to  the  new,  speaks  of  the 
period  as  a  golden  age  ;  of  society  as  a  world 
of  young  households,  eager  for  innocent  if  breath- 
less pleasures  ;  a  world  of  affectionate  husbands 
and  wives,  of  simple  if  gregarious  tastes  ;  a  world 
gradually  shadowed  by  the  return  of  the  remnants 
of  a  more  sophisticated  age,  cynical,  bitter,  and 
immoral.  Others  describe  it  as  a  world  of  brutal 
and  odious  young  men  and  wanton  women.  To 
others,  to  whom  the  splendours  of  the  ancien 
regime  were  unknown,  it  was  a  world  of  superla- 
tive elegance  and  interest.  One  found  according 
to  what  one  brought.  The  clear  eyes  of  Young 
and  Morris,  even  of  Thiebault,  saw  the  bygone 
splendours  of  Versailles  as  a  little  tawdry,  and  the 
society  of  monarchical  Paris  as  in  need  of  a  dose 
of   corrective  laughter. 

One  thing  is  clear  :  apart  from  men  of  letters 
and  science,  politicians  and  philosophers,  the  older 
generation  lived  in  retirement,  unable  to  adapt 
themselves  to  the  new  conditions,  or  too  saddened 
to  care  to  do  so  ;  excepting  the  "  new  people  " 
who  were  learning  the  uses  of  prosperity. 

The  licence  and  anarchy  of  the  city  were  extreme 

269 


Pierre  Garat 

to  an  outside  observer.  Vice  was  not  concealed; 
hypocrisy  was  not  yet  a  sin  of  the  age.  But  the 
established  member  of  society,  moving  in  his  orbit, 
saw  a  world  moderately  decorous,  whose  simplici- 
ties and  extravagances  were  alike  diminishing,  until 
the  rise  of  a  new  royalty  brought  back  conditions 
that  were  in  many  respects  an  interrupted  con- 
tinuation  of   the   old. 

The  official  world  began  to  take  itself  with 
increasing  seriousness.  Men  and  women  who  bore 
the  ancient  names  of  France  were  welcomed,  if 
willing  to  bury  the  hatchet — should  we  say  the 
blade  of  the  guillotine  ?  Napoleon,  who  brooded 
much  over  the  remote  and  legendary  glories  and 
the  latter-day  deficiencies  of  his  own  descent,  and 
had  in  youth  been  miserably  poor  and  a  foreigner 
in  France,  had  a  grudging  respect  for  rank  and 
wealth  and  elegance  as  eager  as  his  thirst  for 
power  ;  he  was,  to  be  brief,  a  snob  ;  and  realizing 
that  the  old  gods  had  never  been  completely  de- 
throned in  the  hearts  of  men,  he  boldly  set  them 
up  in  public,  as  a  bid  for  the  support  and  respect 
of  those  who  would  have  derided  or  conspired 
against  a  soldier  of  the  old  "  shaggy  "  breed. 

■With  the  return  and  emergence  of  the  emigres 
came  the  gradual  settling  of  society  into  strata  ; 
Paris  once  more  cohered  into  definite  circles,  each 
with  its  hierarchy,  and  the  upper  strata  of  these 
circles  mingled  on  the  official  and  social  plane. 
The      literary      salons     were      reconstituted ;      the 

270 


A   Changing  World 


political  salons  became  also  fashionable ;  the 
rulers  of  France  had  learned  how  to  live  in 
palaces. 

By  1800  the  First  Consul  had  left  Luxembourg 
for  the  Tuileries.  Virtually  he  was  a  prince 
already.  The  "  radiation  "  and  return  of  emigres 
proceeded ;  returning  prosperity,  the  spirit  of 
militarism,  foreign  adventure  and  foreign  booty 
soon  eclipsed  the  frugal  elegances  of  the  later 
Directory  which  had  followed  the  carnival  of  early 
reaction.  Satins  and  velvets  replaced  muslin; 
vivid  colours  glowed  in  salons  used  to  white  and 
sober  browns  or  greys  ;  and  the  tone  of  official 
society  became  dry,  cynical,  correctly  and  heavily 
trivial. 

But  this  was  the  work  of  some  years.  At  the 
date  at  which  we  resume  our  narrative  "  the 
children  were  still  as  tall  as  their  parents,"  and 
the  sense  of  relief  and  liberation  that  marked 
the  Thermidorean  reaction  had  not  wholly 
evaporated. 

Anxious  to  do  the  correct  thing,  self-conscious 
and  fearful  of  criticism,  the  new  rulers  were  in- 
dustrious patrons  of  music.  Eager  to  head  the 
march  of  fashion,  they  naturally  made  much  of 
Garat . 

He  was  often  the  guest  of  Josephine,  who  wel- 
comed him  with  the  nervous,  diffident,  but  genuine 

hospitality   of   the   weak,   kindly   woman   not   very 

271 


Pierre  Garat 

sure  of  her  position.  At  Malmaison  he  often 
encountered  Gretry,  and  the  fact  that  the  two  met 
frequently  would  seem  to  dispose  of  the  theory 
that  the  elderly  composer  was  the  mysterious  and 
jealous  "old  troubadour"   of  Rouen. 

Music  was  the  fashion  of  the  day  :  which  is 
to  say  that  Garat  was  assiduous  in  all  the  Govern- 
ment salons.  To  mention  the  houses  he  frequented 
would  be,  as  usual,  to  give  a  list  of  the  leading 
salons  of  Paris. 

Talleyrand  was  often  his  host ;  selecting  Garat 
as  chief  entertainer  on  those  official  occasions  when 
he  opened  his  doors  as  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs. 
In  1 80 1,  by  order  of  the  First  Consul,  we  hear 
of  his  giving  a  State  concert  to  the  King  and 
Queen  of  Etruria,  at  which  Garat,  Rode,  Nader- 
mann,  Steibelt,  and  Mme.  Branchu  were  the  per- 
formers. Garat  had  forgiven  the  ex-bishop  his 
half-hour's  detention.  Lucien  Bonaparte  was 
another  host  ;  at  the  Junots',  we  have  seen, 
he  was  at  home  ;  beside  these  the  salons  of  Mme. 
Regnault  de  Saint-Jean  d'Angely,  Cambaceres, 
Marat,  Jaubert,  Mme.  Recamier,  etc.,  were  among 
those  which  most  often  saw  him.  The  great  recep- 
tions and  sumptuous  dinners  given  by  the 
millionaires  of  the  day  were  still  incomplete 
without  the  singer.  Of  these  financiers  the 
Etchegoyens  were  compatriots  ;  others  were  Hain- 
guerlot,  Seguin,  Ouvrard,  Perregaux,  etc. 

Mme.   de   Montesson,  half-sister  to  the  mother 

272 


A  Changing    World 

of  Mme.  de  Genlis  and  the  widow  of  £galite's 
father,  was  one  of  the  first  of  the  ancien  regime 
to  open  her  doors  to  the  new  Paris.  She  at 
once  became  intimate  with  the  Bonaparte  circle  ; 
Napoleon  was  glad  of  her  countenance,  for  he 
already  saw  the  necessity  of  conciliating  the  world 
of  emigres,  and  obtaining  their  support  ;  Josephine, 
called  to  grandeurs  as  unfamiliar  as  they  were 
oppressive  after  the  informality  of  her  salon  of 
indifferent  poets,  was  more  than  glad  to  win  the 
friendship  and  follow  the  counsel  of  a  wise  and 
benevolent  "  great  lady."  It  was  at  a  ball  given 
by  Mme.  de  Montesson  that  Mme.  de  Stael  made 
one  of  her  last  appearances  in  Paris  before  her 
exile,  vainly  hoping  to  encounter  Napoleon  there. 
Like  Mme.  de  Kriidener  and  many  another,  she 
would  have  been  only  too  willing  to  play  Egeria 
to  the  hope  of  France ;  but  the  Corsican  had 
his  own  ideas,  and  they  were  not  sentimental  in 
the  manner  of  Mmes.  de  Stael  or  de  Kriidener. 
His  dread  of  such  ladies  was  comical,  and  led 
to  his  fearing  even  to  renew  the  acquaintance  of 
the  modest  and  charming  Mme.  de  Chastenay, 
whose  intelligence  had  so  impressed  him  at  their 
meeting   years   before. 

Mme.  de  Kriidener,  as  we  shall  see,  fared  no 
better  at  Napoleon's  hands  than  at  Garat's.  It 
was  this  double  rebuff  which  drove  her  from  Paris, 
and  was  in  part  responsible  for  her  subsequent 
career  as  a   saint. 

273  s 


Pierre  Garat 

Although  on  this  particular  occasion  represented 
by  Josephine,  the  First  Consul  was  a  frequent 
and  familiar  guest  in  Mme.  de  Montesson's  house. 
One  day,  after  dejeuner,  the  company  retired  to 
the  salon,  where  Garat  was  discovered  with  Steibelt. 
Garat  and  Napoleon  seem  to  have  regarded  one 
another  with  the  mutual  jealousy  of  men  both  to 
a  certain  extent  charlatans,  and  both  idols  of  the 
public,  but  of  utterly  different  worlds.  However, 
when  Garat  was  persuaded  to  sing  the  soldier 
listened  with  the  greatest  attention  and  every 
evidence  of  pleasure.  The  song  was  Plantade's 
romance  :— 

"  Le  jour  se  /eve,  amour  m 'inspire, 
J'ai  vi<  Clot"  dans  mon  sommei/." 

Napoleon  begged  for  an  encore.  Steibelt, 
hoping  to  make  an  equally  favourable  impres- 
sion, went  to  the  piano  and  commenced  one  of 
his  own  sonatas.  He  had  not  been  playing  long 
when  Napoleon  abruptly  rose,  took  leave  of  his 
hostess,  and  departed. 

Mme.  de  Montesson  found  him  charming,  as 
indeed  he  could  be  to  elderly  ladies  whose  intelli- 
gence or  character  he  respected.  She  said  as 
much.  "  Charming  !  "  cried  Steibelt  furiously. 
"  Charming  !  The  man's  a  vandal  !  Ask  Garat." 
This  was  unhappy  :  for  Garat  had  been  heard 
to  the  end  and  asked  for  more.  "  He  is  charm- 
ing,"    he     repeated    gravely,     with    the     look    of 

274 


■^MsA 


MME.    RECAMIER. 

From  a  lithograph  by  Bartolozzi. 


A  Changing  World 


portentous  sagacity  which  went  so  drolly  with  face 
and  costume.  "  He  is  delightful.  He  is  a  great 
man  !  " 

Mme.  Recamier,  at  the  height  of  her  fame  and 
beauty,  was  now  established  in  the  Hotel  de  Rainy 
at  Clichy.  Her  circle,  comprising,  among  a 
host  of  notabilities,  Lucien  Bonaparte,  Berthier, 
Ouvrard,  Benjamin  Constant,  Chateaubriand,  Junot, 
Beauharnais,  Mme.  de  Stael,  and  of  foreigners  Lord 
and  Lady  Yarmouth,  the  Duchess  of  Courland, 
Prince  Gregor  Gagarin,  Princes  Trubetzkoy, 
Pignatelli,  and  so  forth,  would  often  spend  hour 
after  hour  enchanted  by  the  feeling,  brilliance,  and 
variety  of   Garat's  art. 

Lucien  Bonaparte,  as  we  have  seen,  was  often 
himself  the  host.  As  Minister  of  the  Interior  he 
gave  many  official  receptions.  At  one  such  the 
First  Consul  appeared  with  Mme.  Laetitia,  Fouche, 
'Cambaceres,  and  Mme.  Recamier.  Mme.  Lucien 
being  unwell,  Mme.  Bacciochi  did  the  honours  of 
the  house.  When  dinner  was  announced  Napoleon, 
whose  manners  were  at  times  already  imperially 
bad,  went  forward  to  the  dining-room  alone,  where 
he  seated  himself  at  the  middle  of  the  table,  leaving 
the  others  to  place  themselves  at  hazard.  Mme. 
Laetitia,  as  Napoleon  always  called  his  mother, 
took  the  chair  to  his  right,  and  beyond  her  sat 
Mme.  Recamier.  Napoleon  had  counted  on  enjoy- 
ing the  beauty  as  his  neighbour,  and  Mme. 
Laetitia     had     hinted     as     much     in     a     whisper  ; 

275 


Pierre  Garat 

but  the  fair  R^camier  failed  to  hear,  or  did  not 
wish  to.  Napoleon  was  inclined  to  sulk;  how- 
ever, looking  round  at  those  who  were  not  yet 
seated,  his  eye  caught  Garat's.  "  Well,  Garat, 
sit  you  here  !  "  he  cried.  After  dinner  the  usual 
concert  began  ;  the  women  seated  in  a  circle  facing 
the  performers,  the  men  standing  behind  them ; 
Napoleon,  however,  sat  alone  beside  the  piano. 
Garat  sang  some  fragments  of  Gluck,  and  in  due, 
course  made  way  for  others ;  but  presently,  at 
the  close  of  a  sonata,  Napoleon  rapped  loudly  on 
the  piano,  crying  :  "  Garat  !  Garat  !  "  For  once 
Garat  needed  no  persuasion,  but  sang  the  favourite 
scene  from  Orfeo.  It  says  much  for  his  powers 
that  Paris  never  wearied  of  it. 

When  the  chrysalid  was  discarded  and  the 
Emperor  stood  revealed  our  singer  was  in  constant 
demand  at  the  State  concerts  given  at  the  Tuileries. 
They  were  held  in  the  Hall  of  the  Marshals,  in 
the  presence  of  the  Imperial  family  and  the  whole 
Court.  The  Bonaparte  contingent  sat  in  front  ; 
the  ladies  of  the  Court  were  relegated  to  rows 
of  chairs  on  either  side  ;  the  dignitaries  of  the 
State  stood  behind  them. 

One  evening,  arriving  with  Martin  to  sing  at 
such  a  concert,  Garat  discovered  that  the  chairs 
reserved  for  the  two  artists  were  somewhat  with- 
drawn from  the  rest,  in  the  recess  of  a  window. 
He  coolly  removed  the  tickets  from  the  chairs 
and    placed    them    upon    two    chairs    reserved    for 

276 


A  Changing  World 

two  dignitaries  of  the  Court,  whose  cards  he 
removed  to  the  window.  The  chamberlain, 
perceiving  this,  protested,  but  in  vain ;  Garat's 
reply  was  that  unless  he  received  satisfaction  he 
would  not  sing.  The  unhappy  chamberlain,  fore- 
seeing a  fiasco,  could  only  appeal  to  the  Emperor. 

'  These  gentlemen,"  said  Napoleon  indulgently, 
"  have  their  dignity.  Put  them  where  they  will." 
This  reply  being  conveyed  to  Garat,  he  at  once 
replaced  the  cards  in  question,  assuring  the  cham- 
berlain :  "  We  shall  do  our  utmost  to  satisfy  a 
Sovereign  who  is  so  good  as  to  show  such  indul- 
gence to  persons  who  perhaps  have  too  much 
vanity." 

Upon  the  institution  of  the  Legion  of  Honour, 
Garat,  it  seems,  was  decorated.  One  biographer 
speaks  of  his  hiding  the  decoration  as  one  ashamed 
of  it ;  and  of  Fouche,  at  a  reception,  maliciously 
turning  back  the  revers  of  his  coat  and  thus 
revealing  it.  However,  Mme.  de  Chastenay,  from 
whose  pages  the  incident  is  cited,  speaks  of  Garat 
the  philosopher  ;  it  would  seem  that  the  uncle 
was  in  question.  For  fourteen  years  no  ribbons 
or  order  had  been  worn,  and  it  was  at  first 
the  fashion  to  deride  Napoleon's  decorations. 
Dominique-Joseph,  "  the  unwilling  Jacobin,"  the 
ex-Conventional,  steeped  in  political  prejudice,  was 
far  more  likely  to  be  ashamed  of  the  decora- 
tion, or  to  feign  the  general  attitude,  than  the 
singer. 

277 


Pierre  Garat 

Alas  !  these  happy  relations  between  the 
autocrats  of  France  and  of  fashion  were  not 
enduring.  Garat  had  a  demoniacal  talent  for 
pricking  bladders.  A  child  of  the  old  Court, 
accustomed  to  the  adoration  of  the  ancient  France 
and  the  new,  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  become 
a  courtier  of  the  servile  kind.  Whether  he  was 
responsible  for  some  bitingly  indiscreet  epigram, 
or  whether  he  displayed  a  tendency  to  treat  with 
Napoleon  ajs  one  power  with  another,  the  First 
Consul  turned  upon  him,  and  not  for  the  first 
time  descended  to  petty  spite.  It  is  possible  that 
certain  of  Garat's  compositions  displeased  him. 
Some  saw  General  Moreau  in  Garat's  Belisaire ; 
Bayard  and  Henri  IV  may  have  been  equally 
suspect  ;  though  if  so  the  fault  was  the  poet's. 
Moreover,  Napoleon  knew  that  Garat  openly  re- 
gretted the  Court  of  Louis  XVI,  and  probably 
suspected  that  he  was  always  drawing  invidious 
if  secret  comparisons.  Again,  he  remained  the 
friend  of  Josephine.  The  result,  in  any  case,  was 
that  Garat's  salary  as  professor  at  the  Conserva- 
toire was  unpaid  for  the  last  fourteen  months  of 
the  Empire. 

This,  however,  is  to  anticipate  ;  in  those  days 
Napoleon  had  degenerated. 

Although  Garat's  relations  with  Napoleon  were 
ultimately  strained,  he  was  always  the  friend  and 
admirer  of  Josephine,  and  after  her  divorce  was 
as    assiduous    in    his    attentions    as    before.      Miel 

278 


A  Changing  World 

relates  an  incident  which  shows  that  even  with 
the  Empress  he  could  make  himself  very  much 
at  home.  He  had  been  invited  to  a  reception 
at  the  house  of  the  Chancellor,  Cambaceres,  at 
which  Josephine  was  present.  He  was  eventually 
pressed  to  sing,  but  as  he  was  on  the  point  of 
retiring  he  refused,  protesting  that  it  was  too  late  ; 
his  voice  had  already  gone  to  bed. 

To  descend  from  Imperial  circles,  we  find  Garat 
in  the  salon  of  Mme.  Regnaud  de  Saint-Jean 
d'Angely  :  a  beautiful  and  witty  woman  and  a 
fine  singer.  Her  salon  was  artistic  and  literary  ; 
Garat  was  an  intimate  friend.  Of  the  Philistine 
world  she  entertained  such  examples  as  Pignatelli, 
Marmont,  Junot,  Duroc,  Savary,  and  Beauhar- 
nais  :  a  company  of  embryo  counts  or  dukes  of 
the  Empire.  She  was  one  of  the  few  hostesses 
to  eschew  the  fashions  of  the  Directoire  and  the 
Empire  ;  the  salons  of  her  hotel  and  chateau  were 
still  as  they  were  in  the  days  of  Louis  XVI.  Saint- 
Jean  d'Angely  himself,  soon  to  be  Count  of  the 
Empire,  was  something  of  a  poet,  and  Garat  in 
later  years  would  often  sing  his  productions. 

Mme.  Tallien  was  presently  to  be  Princesse  de 
Chimay  ;  the  passion  that  saved  so  many  Bordelais 
and  heartened  the  reformed  Terrorist  to  depose 
Robespierre  had  quickly  cooled,  and  a  divorce 
freed  "  Our  Lady  of  Pity  "  for  another  avatar . 
In  all  her  transformations   Garat   was   her  friend, 

279 


Pierre   Garat 

and  the  greater  number  of  Talliens  official  recep- 
tions were  adorned  by  his  presence.  One  anecdote 
has  come  down  to  us  in  respect  of  these  recep- 
tions. One  evening  a  Mass  by  Cherubini  was 
to  be  performed.  Cardinal  Maury,  a  parvenu 
prelate  with  a  booming  voice,  continued  his  dis- 
course and  ignored  all  appeals  for  silence.  Garat 
approached  him,  stood  before  him,  caught  his  eye. 
"  Chut,  Monseigneur  !  Mass  is  about  to  begin  !  " 
Before  the  astonished  Maury  could  recover  the 
music  had   commenced. 

Of  his  intimacy  with  the  Junot  household  we 
have  spoken.  There  he  met  Steibelt,  Crescentini, 
Nadermann,  Boieldieu,  Dusseck ;  of  painters 
Girodet-Trioson,  Lefevre,  Vivant-Denon ;  of 
literary  men  Nepomucene  Lemercier,  a  friend 
and  collaborator  ;  Delille,  now  married,  and  one 
actor,   Talma. 

Jaubert,  a  Girondist  advocate,  now  Councillor 
of  State,  later  Senator,  Count,  and  Governor  of 
the  Bank  of  France,  was  a  friend  from  home.  At 
his  hotel,  or  at  Issy  in  the  summer,  a  beaiitiful 
chateau  bought  of  Contat  the  actress,  Talleyrand, 
Cambaceres,  Maury,  Boissy-d'Anglas,  Fontanes, 
and  a  host  of  other  legislators  were  habitues ;  and 
in  moments  of  silence,  when  the  music  and  applause 
was  stilled,  what  shadowy,  pathetic  shapes  came 
thither  from  their  nameless  graves? 

In  the  spring  of   1802,  in  one  of  these  brilliant 

280 


EXCURSIONISTS — "TO    VERSAILLES,    ST.    CLOUD,    NEUILLY,"    ETC. 
From  an  engraving  published  by  Martinet. 


TALMA. 
From  ,:  lithograph. 


To  luce  p.  280. 


A  Love  Affair 

salons,  Garat  met  with  the  strangest  of  all  his 
many  adorers,  and  a  love  affair  began  which  of 
all  his  adventures  has  the  strongest  flavour  of 
comedy.  A  cynic's  comedy,  perhaps,  and  to 
Julie  de  Kriidener  no  comedy  at  all,  but  one 
of  the  factors  that  sent  her  wandering  down  the 
path  that  eventually  led  to  sainthood  and  a  grave 
on  the  shores  of  the  Crimea.  For  she  fared  at 
Garat's  hands  no  better  than  at  Napoleon's  ;  twice 
within  as  many  years  she,  whose  life  had 
been  a  long  irresponsible  triumph,  as  brilliant 
socially  as  her  lover's,  was  firmly  and  irrefutably 
snubbed.  The  experience  was  a  landmark  in 
her  life. 

The  friend  of  Saint-Pierre,  Gay,  Constant, 
Chateaubriand  ;  the  heroine  of  a  dozen  romances  ; 
the  friend,  model,  and  rival  of  Mme.  de  Stael  ; 
the  friend  of  Josephine  and  the  Queens  of  Holland 
and  Prussia  ;  the  spiritual  adviser  and  confessor  of 
the  Tsar  of  Russia  ;  the  founder  of  the  Holy  Alliance 
and  the  power  that  sent  Napoleon  to  St.  Helena  ; 
the  mystic  and  evangelist  whose  latter  years  were 
a  long  pilgrimage  of  charity — Barbe-Julie  de 
Kriidener  is  one  of  the  most  fantastic  figures  of 
history. 

The  story  of  her  relations  with  Garat  may  well 
be  told  here,  in  its  chronological  place,  for  the 
greater  wealth  of  detail  available,  as  well  as  the 
extraordinary  character  of  the  woman,  differentiates 
it  from  those  longer  or  happier  affairs  concerning 

281 


Pierre  Garat 

which  we  know  little  but  the  names  of  those 
concerned. 

In  the  first  place  we  find  that  her  biographers 
are  as  mutually  inconsistent  as  Garat's.  Dominique- 
Joseph  Garat,  in  his  memoir  of  Suard  the  Acade- 
mician, states  that  the  beautiful  Mme.  de  Kr , 

unjustly  neglected  by  her  husband,  found  herself, 
in  1782,  alone  on  the  stream  of  Parisian  society. 
She  met  Suard  ;  a  passionate  friendship  ensued  ; 
a  correspondence,  which  had  been  in  Garat's 
hands  ;  eventually  the  lady,  after  thanking  her 
Maker  at  the  altar  for  giving  her  her  lover,  wearied 
the  elderly  philosopher  with  her  protestations  and 
her  voluminous  letters ;  at  length  he  demanded 
her  permission  to  marry  ;  she  gave  it,  and  con- 
soled herself  with  the  friendship  of  Bernardin  de 
Saint-Pierre. 

Now  the  bulk  of  her  biographers  claim  that  this 
story  is  absolutely  mythical.  And  it  is  certainly 
a  fact  that  in  1782  Julie  Wietinghoff,  as  she  was 
then,  was  living,  a  young  unmarried  girl,  at  her 
parents'  house  in  Riga. 

We  should  not  refer  to  the  matter  here,  but 
for  the  fact  that  Suard's  mistress  wearied  him  as 
Julie  de  Krudener  wearied  Garat  and  her  own 
husband  ;  and  that  her  whole  behaviour,  and  her 
epistolary  style,  are  those  of  the  Mme.  de  Krudener 
we  know.     Is  the  error  by  chance  one  of  date? 

To  confine  ourselves  to  the  admitted  facts  :    she 

282 


A   Love  Affair 

was  the  daughter  of  WietinghofF  of  Riga — a  wealthy 
landowner  and  speculator  of  ancient  German 
descent,  and  his  wife  Julie  Munnich,  herself  the 
daughter  of  a  soldier  who  commanded  armies 
against  Turks  and  Tartars,  and  was  twenty  years 
an  exile  in  Siberia.  In  1783  the  girl  of  nineteen 
was  married  to  Baron  Krudener,  a  successful  diplo- 
matist, already  twice  divorced,  and  a  man  some 
twenty  years  the  senior  of  his  bride.  Krudener 
was  presently  appointed  ambassador  to  Venice. 
Julie  was  incurably  a  romantic,  and  an  egoist  of 
the  introspective  Russian  type.  She  was  in  love 
— with  love  ;  with  the  idea  of  a  passionate  and 
unceasing  devotion  to  her  common-sense,  busy 
husband.  Her  days  were  spent  in  the  endeavour 
to  prove  her  affection  by  a  thousand  attentions, 
which  were  usually  unnoticed  ;  when  noticed,  the 
girl  was  kindly  told  to  be  calm,  to  be  less 
impetuous. 

Krudener  was  removed  to  Copenhagen.  There 
was  a  third  in  the  household  :  the  secretary,  Alexis 
de  Stakiev,  a  kindred  soul.  But  the  kinship  was 
perceived  by  the  man  alone.  Devoted  to  his 
chief,  he  eventually  fled,  leaving  a  declaration— 
to  Krudener.  "  I  worship  her,"  he  said,  "  because 
she  loves  you.  Were  she  to  love  you  less  I  should 
love  her  no  more." 

Krudener  was  so  incredibly  foolish  as  to  show 
the  letter  to  his  young  wife.  At  last  she  was  the 
object  of  the  absorbing  passion  she  had  dreamed 

283 


Pierre  Garat 

of  !  The  experience  was  so  inspiring  that  she  at 
once  began  a  series  of  conquests  ;  her  undying 
passion  for  her  husband  was  cured.  Ill-health 
and  the  birth  of  a  daughter  led  her  to  beg  her 
husband  to  send  her  south.  With  her  two  children, 
her  stepdaughter,  and  a  governess  she  started  on 
the  adventure   of  life. 

In  1789  she  was  in  Paris.  The  Abbe 
Barth&emy  and  Bernardin  de  Saint-Pierre,  an 
old  friend  of  her  grandfather  the  Marshal,  wel- 
comed and  loved  her  as  a  daughter.  Travel 
through  France  followed  ;  her  social  triumphs  were 
continuous.  Then  she  met  her  first  love- — the 
Comte  de  Fregeville— and  proceeded  to  Paris  under 
his  escort. 

On  the  flight  of  the  King  to  Varennes  she  felt 
herself  unsafe  ;  with  her  lover  dressed  as  a  lackey 
she  at  length,  in  obedience  to  her  husband,  returned 
to  Copenhagen.  The  husband  accepted  the  fact 
of  the  hussar  with  a  good  grace,  but  attempted  to 
draw  the  line  at  a  menage  a  trots,  which  the  lady 
insisted  on.  Eventually  he  sent  her  to  Riga,  her 
lover  escorting  her  as  far  as  Berlin,  where  they 
parted,  apparently  by  no  means  heartbroken. 

Sated  for  a  time  with  love,  her  incurable  egoism 
and  introspection  resulted  in  a  passing  religious 
phase.  At  last,  hearing  that  her  husband  was  in 
debt,  she  rushed  off  to  fling  herself  at  his  feet  and 
beg  his  forgiveness.  The  two  proceeded  from 
Denmark  to  Berlin,  where  she  met  the  chivalrous 

284 


A   Love  Affair 

de  Stakiev.  "  The  poor  man,"  she  wrote  com- 
placently, "  looks  very  ill  and  wretched."  Later, 
in  a  novel,  she  killed  him.  Cynics  said  the  wish 
was  father  to  the  thought. 

A  few  weeks  only  and  she  found  the  society  of 
Berlin  and  her  husband  insupportable.  With  his 
consent  she  left  him,  ostensibly  in  search  of  health, 
for  Leipsic,  where  she  met  Jean-Paul  Richter.  A  few 
months  at  Riga  followed,  and  a  year  at  Lausanne, 
in  Gibbon's  old  residence.  Lausanne  admired  her 
to  her  own  satisfaction.  It  was  here  that  she 
invented  the  "  shawl  dance  "  as  described  in 
Valerie;  as  described  also,  later,  in  the  pages  of 
Mme.  de  Stael's  Delphine .  We  are  reminded  of 
the  "  plastic  poses  "  of  Lady  Hamilton  as  described 
by  Mme.  Le  Brun.  Which  was  the  copy  and 
which  the  original  ? 

Wanderings  in  Germany  followed,  and  another 
attempt  to  play  the  ambassadress  in  Berlin.  Then 
again  Riga,  and  again  Berlin. 

This  brings  us  to  1801.  Kriidener  was  prosper- 
ing, which  fact  his  wife  attributed  to  her  prayers. 
But  on  the  23rd  March  the  Emperor  Paul  sent 
a  dispatch  to  his  ambassador  to  the  effect  that 
unless  the  King  of  Prussia  immediately  took  action 
against  England  he  would  cross  the  frontier  with 
80,000  men. 

At  the  foot  of  the  dispatch  was  a  postscript  by 
Pahlen,  Governor  of  St.  Petersburg.  "  His 
Imperial      Majesty     is     to-day     in     bad      health. 

285 


Pierre  Garat 

Serious  consequences  may  ensue  "  They  did ; 
a  few  hours  after  the  words  were  written  Paul 
was  strangled  by  the  Palace  conspirators,  directed 
by  Pahlen. 

Kriidener  was  uneasy  about  his  debts.  Dis- 
illusioned, perhaps,  as  to  the  efficacy  of  prayer,  his 
wife  decided  upon  a  trip  to  the  baths  of  Toeplitz. 
Visits  to  Geneva  followed,  and  a  long  stay  at 
Coppee  as  the  guest  of   Mme.  de  Stael. 

Being  beautiful,  the  Russian  was  not  jealous 
of  Mme.  de  Stael.  But  she  also  had  literary 
ambitions  and  was  always  unwilling  to  be  out- 
shone. However,  she  received  her  full  meed  of 
admiration,  and  served  her  good-natured  hostess 
as  the  model  for  Delphine :  a  fact  which  partially 
explains  the  similarity  of  the  later  Valerie. 

In  December,  1801,  we  find  her  once  more  in 
Paris,  in  a  small  apartment  near  the  Madeleine. 

For  a  time  an  intimate  friendship  with  Chateau- 
briand sufficed  her.  But  in  the  spring  of  1802 
she  met  Garat. 

"  She  was  then,"  says  Sainte-Beuve,  "  still  com- 
paratively young  [she  was  thirty-seven,  not  thirty- 
three,  as  Jacob  has  it]  ;  she  was  always  beautiful, 
deliciously  graceful,  slender,  pale,  blond,  with  those 
tresses  of  an  ashen  fairness  which  only  Valerie 
has  ;  with  eyes  of  a  deep  blue,  a  tender  voice,  in 
speaking  full  of  sweetness  and  music  ;  one  of  the 
charms  of   the   Livonian   women.      Her   waltz   was 

286 


BARBE-JULIE    DE   KRUDENER. 
From  the  painting  by  Angelica  Kauffmann. 


To  face  r-  286. 


A  Love  Affair 

intoxicating;  her  dance  admirable."  It  was  always 
intolerable  to  her  not  to  be  noticed  and  admired  ; 
intolerable  that  any  should  outshine  her. 

It  was  a  meeting  of  two  supreme  egoists.  Let 
us  call  them  egoists  in  classification,  not  in  judg- 
ment. To  judge  is  merely  childish  :  it  is  to  blame 
the  effect  for  the  cause. 

Egoists,  after  all,  are  responsible  for  most  of 
the  really  useful  work  of  the  world,  for  most  of 
its  joy  and  beauty.  They  desire  perfection  in  all 
they  do,  because  it  is  theirs.  The  great  artist 
desires  perfection  in  what  he  creates  for  its  own 
sake,  which  is  beauty  :  the  artist  of  the  second 
degree  desires  perfection  in  the  manner  of  creating, 
which  is  himself.  The  egoist  is  a  lover  of  per- 
fection, and  his  desire  is  that  he  himself  shall  be 
perfect.  From  a  fop  he  may  become  a  saint  ; 
it  is  a  change  of  taste  rather  than  a  change  of  heart . 
He  still  desires  to  be  perfect,  but  his  egoism  has 
transcended  man  ;  he  desires  his  gods  to 
appreciate   him. 

•He  is  his  own  child.  He  desires  that  personal 
immortality  which  he  may  taste  as  mortal,  which 
is  fame.  Not  now,  nor  ever,  can  he  bear  to  be 
unperceived.  When  the  world  betrays  him  he 
treads  the  path  to  heaven. 

Julie  de  Kriidener  found  Garat  the  idol  of  the 
women  of  Paris.  Many  found  favour  in  his  eyes. 
It  became  intolerable  that  she  should  not.  It  was 
enough  ;    he  should  be  her  victim. 

287 


Pierre  Garat 

In  the  event  she  was  his — or  her  own  ?  She 
was  the  watcher  of  the  mind,  the  heart ;  he  of 
the  bodily  gesture.  Gesture  in  song  and  in  social 
life  was  his  delight  ;  if  men  gave  that  their  meed 
of  admiration  he  was  content. 

For  her,  the  gesture  of  the  mind,  even  her  own 
appreciation  of  that  gesture,  was  the  great  thing. 
He  was  a  materialist;  she  a  sentimentalist.  He 
was  French  ;  she  was  Russian.  It  was  inevitable 
that  she  should  be  the  loser. 

What  was  it  that  she  loved  ?  Not  man,  nor 
even  the  love  of  man,  but  the  image  of  herself 
as  a  lover.  Hers  was  the  supremer  egoism.  And 
it  was  for  that  image  of  herself  as  lover  that  she 
demanded  the  love  of  others. 

Let  us  remember  that  she  was  thirty-seven.  It 
was  many  years  since  she  had  been  a  mother.  She 
had  reached  an  age  when  women  not  controlled 
by  fear,  or  a  sense  of  humour,  or  intellect  are  apt 
to  lose  the  sense  of  proportion. 

Wherever  Garat  appeared  she  made  it  her 
business  to  be.  For  months,  night  after  night, 
this  beautiful  blond  creature,  so  unlike  the  more 
sensual  beauties  of  France,  with  the  wreath  of  blue 
flowers  glowing  pale  above  the  bluer  eyes,  was 
always  to  the  fore  in  that  circle  of  resplendent 
women  who  surrounded  the  magical  singer, 
"  following  every  gesture  of  the  artist,  weeping, 
sobbing,  screaming  even  with  delight,  when  the 
prodigious  talent  of  the  singer  awoke  the  applause 


A  Love  Affair 

of  the  hearers.  More  than  once,  giving  way  to  a 
kind  of  vertigo,  despite  the  presence  of  three  or 
four  hundred  persons,  all  electrified  by  Garat's 
voice,  she  would  throw  herself  into  the  arms  of 
this  Orpheus,  or  fall  at  his  feet  as  if  to  adore 
him." 

It  is  possible  that  Garat  found  this  pleasant — 
for  a  time.  But  worse  was  to  follow.  To  outshine 
others — to  have  won  this  paragon  from  all  Paris — 
in  that  lay  the  delight.  Paris,  however,  continued 
to  woo,  and  Garat  was  not  always  unattainable. 
The  lady  grew  jealous,  and  jealousy  was  long  out 
of  fashion ;  worse,  she  expressed  her  jealousy  in 
public.  "  Under  the  empire  of  jealousy  and  anger 
she  addressed  the  most  tender  reproaches  to  her 
unfaithful  lover,  without  heeding  the  witnesses  of 
these  incredible  scenes."  Without  heeding  them  ! 
— we  may  be  sure  that  their  presence  gave  the 
affair  its  flavour  !  She  found  her  emotional  gesture 
as  wronged  yet  forgiving  mistress  adorable  ;  there- 
fore there  must  be  spectators  to  adore. 

•Worse  still  !  It  was  not  enough  to  be  under  the 
eye  of  her  lover  half  the  evening,  to  receive  him 
at  night ;  he  must  be  occupied  with  her,  as  she 
with  him,  all  day.  She  began  to  write  him  letters  : 
"full  of  exaltation,  sensibility  and  tears." 

Perhaps  Garat  felt,  at  last,  that  she  was  making 
herself  and  him  ridiculous.  Perhaps  he  was 
ashamed  for  her.     Such  things  will  make  a  man 

brutal . 

289  t 


Pierre  Garat 

One  can  imagine  the  attitude  of  the  French- 
man to  such  a  Teuto-Slavonic  bombardment. 
"  My  good  pretty  woman,  I  am  a  man,  but  a  busy 
man.  Love  is  good;  if  you  favour  me  I  am 
grateful  ;  but  is  there  any  need  to  make  words 
about  the  matter?  " 

What  he  did  say,  returning  a  letter  of  pheno- 
menal length  and  sensibility,  was  this  : — 

"  All  this  would  do  very  well  in  a  novel,  but 
in  real  life  it  is  altogether  too  lengthy  and  too 
romantic  ;  don't,  then,  send  me  any  more  of  your 
manuscripts,  but  get  them  printed ;  and  I  will 
willingly  accept  the  dedication." 

We  do  not  know  the  exact  length  and  number 
of  her  letters  to  Garat ;  but  at  a  later  date  she 
was  accustomed  to  write  four  or  five  times  a  day 
to  the  Tsar  Alexander  I.  If  she  was  as  prolific 
with  her  love-letters,  it  is  hardly  astonishing 
that  a  busy  man,  whose  day  was  filled  with 
practice,  rehearsal,  teaching,  social  functions, 
and  singing,  should  at  last  be  driven  to 
brutality. 

The  means  Garat  took  was  effectual.  Never  had 
the  idea  of  herself  as  a  voluble  and  tiresome  female 
presented  itself  to  her.  The  man  must  be  a  brute. 
She  could  perhaps  forgive  a  slight  to  her  beauty 
or  her  love,  but  a  slight  to  her  literary  powers 
was  unpardonable.  Her  besetting  sins  were  an 
eternal  flux  of  words  and  the  necessity  of  delight- 
ing in  the  spectacle  of  her  own  life.     Her  writings 

290 


c 


A  Love   Affair 

were  cult  and  ritual.  Garat  had  blasphemed.  The 
rupture  was  complete  and  immediate. 

It  is  said  that  while  the  lady  was  smarting  under 
this  rebuff  she  came  upon  a  caricature  of  her  lover, 
depicting  him  smothered  in  a  huge  square-cut  coat, 
the  head  half  buried,  the  hair  hanging  in  "  dog's 
ears."  Hating  him  for  the  moment,  she  was  willing 
to  see  him  with  the  eyes  of  spite.  Her  next  letter 
was  a  model  of  brevity  : — 

"  It  was  not  you  I  loved.  It  was  a  phantom 
I  myself  created,  which  was  not  even  made  in 
your  image.  This  phantom  had  a  heart,  which 
you  never  had  ;  it  would  probably  embarrass  you 
to  possess  one.  The  illusion  has  vanished.  I  see 
you  as  you  are  ;  I  am  forced  to  recognize  that 
I  have  never  loved  you." 

There  is  truth  here,  but  not  all  the  truth.  It 
is  probable  that  she  never  loved  any  man  :  only 
her  idea  of  the  man  as  she  would  have  him,  and 
the  spectacle  of  herself  in  love. 

During  her  stay  in  Paris  Mme.  de  Kriidener  had 
often  encountered  the  First  Consul  in  the  salons 
of  official  friends.  Napoleon  had  consistently 
avoided  her  ;  he  regarded  her  as  an  eccentric  bore 
who  might  become  mischievous.  He  was  always 
afraid  of  literary  women. 

Impressed  with  the  vanity  of  love,  Mme.  de 
Kriidener  turned  her  attention  to  literature. 

We  have   seen   that   she   could  not   bear   to  be 

291 


Pierre  Garat 

outshone.  This  is  literally  the  truth.  Knowing 
that  Mme.  R^camier  was  to  be  a  guest  at  a  certain 
reception,  Mme.  de  Kriidener  induced  Benjamin- 
Constant  to  request  the  beauty  to  appear  that 
evening  in  inconspicuous  garments,  lest  she  should 
eclipse  the  beauty  of  the  older  woman. 

Mme.  de  Stael  had  recently  published  her 
Delphine.  As  the  avowed  model  of  Delphine, 
Mme.  de  Kriidener  was  at  first  delighted. 
Presently,  however,  the  old  jealousy  began  to 
work.  Through  the  summer  of  1801  and  the 
winter  and  spring  of  1802  she  was  busily  employed 
upon  various  stories,  and  eventually  recast  Valerie, 
a  manuscript  commenced  at  Geneva.  She  must 
eclipse  even  Mme.  de  Stael. 

In  the  midst  of  this  work  her  husband  died. 
A  brief  period  of  seclusion  followed.  The  con- 
templation of  penitence  enlarged  her  religious 
experiences.  In  August  she  left  Paris  and  wintered 
at  Lyons.  There  Valerie  was  printed,  but  not 
yet  published. 

From  Lyons  she  wrote  an  extraordinary  series  of 
letters  to  Dr.  Gay,  requesting  him  to  write  certain 
verses  to  her  which  can  only  be  described  as 
literary  "  puffs."  Shown  to  friends,  Valerie  was 
of  course  satisfactorily  admired.  In  the  spring 
of  1803  the  authoress  returned  to  Paris.  She 
writes,  to  friends,  that  Chateaubriand,  Saint-Pierre 
and  others  are  enchanted  with  Valerie.  The  year 
was  passed  in  a  conspiracy  of  advertisement  worthy 

292 


A    Love  Affair 

of     an     American     press-agent.      At     length,     in 
December,  the  book  appeared. 

She  had  kept  her  masterpiece  of  advertising  for 
the  last  moment.  Day  after  day  for  several  days 
she  made  the  round  of  all  the  fashionable  shops, 
asking  for  articles  a  la  Valerie:  "  shawls,  hats, 
feathers,  wreaths,  or  ribbons  a  la  Valerie.  When 
they  saw  this  beautiful  and  elegant  stranger  step 
out  of  her  carriage  and  ask  for  fancy  articles  which 
she  invented  on  the  spur  of  the  moment  the  shop- 
keepers were  seized  with  a  polite  desire  to  satisfy, 
her  by  any  means  in  their  power.  Moreover,  the 
lady  would  pretend  to  recognize  the  article  she 
had  asked  for.  If  the  unfortunate  shop-girls  .  .  . 
denied  all  knowledge  of  the  articles,  she  would 
smile  graciously,  and  compassionate  them  for  their 
ignorance  of  the  new  novel,  thus  turning  all  into 
eager  readers  of  Valerie.'''' 

The  manoeuvre  was  repeated  from  shop  to  shop, 
from  day  to  day.  For  at  least  a  week  the  shops 
of  Paris  were  full  of  articles  a  la  Valerie.  Scarcely 
a  soul  in  Paris  was  ignorant  of  the  novel  and  its 
story.  "  The  success  of  Valerie"  she  remarks,  "  is 
complete  and  unheard  of  .  .  .  there  is  something 
supernatural  in  such  success.  ...  It  is  the  will 
of  Heaven  that  the  ideas  and  the  purer  morality 
of  the  book  should  be  spread  throughout  France, 
where  such  thoughts  are  little  known  "  ! 

This  is  a  proof,  not  of  hypocrisy,  but  of  an 
amazing  power  of  self-deception. 

293 


Pierre  Garat 

And  what  was  Valerie?  The  story  of  her  life 
in  Venice,  told  in  letters  ;  with  the  difference  that 
the  virtuous  secretary  died  of  a  broken  heart.  It 
contained,  like  Delphine,  a  lengthy  description  of 
the  famous  shawl-dance.  Mme.  de  Stael  made 
her  heroine  commit  suicide  ;  Valerie  is  the  innocent 
object,  not  the  victim,  of  passion. 

As  the  authoress  of  this  marvellously  successful 
romance  Mme.  de  Kriidener  was  more  in  evidence 
than  ever.  Yet  .  .  .  Napoleon  continued  to  ignore 
her.  He  had  escaped  the  daughter  of  Necker, 
but  she  had  the  figure  of  a  grenadier  and  the 
face  and  hands  of  a  housemaid.  Why  not  eclipse 
her  as  Valerie  had  eclipsed  Delphine?  Why  not 
become  the  Egeria  of  the  ascending  Numa? 

It  is  impossible  to  be  sure  that  such  ambitions 
were  not  hers  when  we  remember  her  faculty  for 
intimate  friendships  with  sovereigns  and  the 
cunning  of  the  plan  whereby  she  ensnared  the 
Tsar  of  Russia. 

This,  at  all  events,  is  history  :  Napoleon  was  a 
voracious  reader  of  romances.  Barbier,  librarian 
to  the  Council  of  State,  used  to  provide  a  supply 
of  volumes,  which  were  placed  on  a  table  with 
those  whose  authors  had  sent  them  as  presentation 
copies.  Mme.  de  Kriidener,  as  a  first  step  to  the 
favour  of  the  First  Consul,  sent  him  an  anonymous 
copy  of  the  edition  which  was  printed  in  Lyons. 
Napoleon  came  upon  it,  opened  it  at  random,  read 

294 


A   Love  Affair 

a  few  pages,  and  threw  it  aside  in  contempt.  On 
the  following  day  he  spoke  to  Barbier  : — 

"  You  forget  I  dislike  romances  in  the  form  of 
letters.  They  are  good  enough  for  women  who 
have  time  to  waste." 

Mme.  de  Kriidener,  by  dint  of  canvassing  her 
friends  and  conducting  an  advertising  campaign 
of  peculiar  skill,  had  been  overwhelmed  with 
favourable  opinions,  and  no  doubt  believed  the 
book  to  be  a  work  of  unmistakable  genius.  The 
First  Consul  would  inquire  whose  work  it  was, 
would  be  told,  and  the  charm  would  begin  to  work. 

Hearing  no  more  of  her  book,  she  sent  a  second 
copy,  magnificently  bound,  with  a  letter  begging 
the  First  Consul  to  accept  it.  Barbier  left  book 
and  letter  on  the  table. 

In  the  evening  Napoleon,  attracted  by  the  bind- 
ing, picked  up  the  book  and  opened  it.  He  read 
a  few  pages,  and  realized  that  he  had  seen  the 
book  before  ;  he  opened  the  letter  and  read  it. 
He  rang  violently  for  Barbier. 

"Sir,"  he  said,  "tell  this  crazy  Mme.  de 
Kriidener  to  write  in  Russian  or  German,  but  to 
deliver  us  from  this  insupportable  stuff  !  Mme. 
de  Stael  has  found  her  fellow  :  the  same  pathos, 
the  same  babbling  !  " 

Barbier  repeated  these  words,  not  to  the 
authoress,  but  to  a  mutual  friend.  Mme.  de 
Kriidener  was  infuriated,  but  persevering.  She 
was  willing  to  give  the  barbarian  a  further  chance. 

295 


Pierre  Garat 

A  third  corrected  edition  was  published  in  Paris 
under  her  own  name.  Again  Napoleon  found  the 
book  in  his  hands.  It  went  into  the  fire,  un- 
opened. "  Women,"  he  told  Barbier,  "  might  spare 
me  trouble  by  burning  their  books  with  their  old 
love-letters  !  " 

This  was  the  end.  Mme.  de  Kriidener  never 
forgave  him. 

When  the  Due  d'Enghien  was  murdered  Mme. 
de  Kriidener  left  Paris.  Where  the  rulers  com- 
mitted such  crimes  there  she  could  no  longer  stay. 
Yet — had  the  murder  never  been  committed,  would 
she  not  have  fled  as  swiftly?  When  she  returned 
it  was  as  the  spiritual  guardian  and  confessor  of 
Napoleon's  destroyer. 

A  sudden  death  impressed  her.  The  conception 
of  Julie  de  Kriidener  appearing  at  the  judgment- 
seat  without  due  preparation  was  disturbing.  The 
sight  of  a  Moravian  cobbler  led  her  to  investigate 
the  Moravian  community.  Later  she  met  Jung- 
Stilling,  and  her  religious  career  commenced.  Man 
had  scorned  her.  Her  deity  was  as  much  her 
own  work  as  any  of  the  phantoms  she  had  loved, 
but  she  was  now  safe  against  any  further  rebuff. 
If  one  fashions  the  gods  in  one's  own  image,  one 
can  always  make  them  appreciative. 

The  old  vanity  showed  itself  in  a  tendency  to 
attach  herself  to  sovereigns.  The  sight  of  the 
sufferings  of  Louisa  of  Prussia  increased  her  hatred 

296 


A   Love   Affair 

of  Napoleon.  She  began  presently  to  predict  his 
downfall. 

For  a  time  she  was  connected  with  Maria  de 
Kummrin  and  Fontaine :  two  corrupt  promoters 
of  Christian  colonies,  who  did  not  always  succeed 
in  keeping  out  of  prison.  Her  religion  was  a 
fervid  Evangelism,  coloured  by  Quietism ;  her 
letters  were  full  of  rhapsodies  on  the  joys  of  re- 
generation and  the  goodness  and  love  of  God,  and 
of  mystical  rhapsodies  and  predictions. 

In  1812  she  began  to  foretell  the  downfall  of 
"  the  living  scourge  of  Europe,  the  new  Attila." 
In  the  following  year  she  commenced  her  long 
pilgrimages  of  evangelization  and  almsgiving.  In 
1 8 1 4,  after  the  abdication  of  Napoleon,  she 
clamoured  for  his  exile  for  life  "  to  a  desert  isle 
in  the  farthest  seas."  It  was  then  that  she  com- 
menced an  extraordinary  series  of  letters  to  Mile. 
Stourdza,  maid  of  honour  to  the  Empress  Eliza- 
beth. They  contained  constant  references  to  the 
Tsar,  the  "  white  angel,"  the  "  regenerator  of  the 
world,"  and  a  statement  that  she  would  soon  meet 
him.  She  foretold  the  flight  of  Napoleon  from 
Elba.  These  letters  were  of  course  eventually 
shown  to  Alexander,  then  much  interested  in 
matters  of  religious  reform,  having  recently,  with 
Mme.  de  Kriidener's  brother  and  Galitzin,  founded 
a  Bible  Society  in  St.  Petersburg. 

It  was  after  Napoleon's  flight,  as  Alexander  was 
hastening  from  Vienna  to  join  his  army,  that  the 

297 


Pierre  Garat 

first  meeting  took  place.  Alexander  had  retired 
to  his  rooms,  wearied  out.  "  When,"  he  thought, 
"am  I  ever  to  meet  this  Mme.  de  Kriidener?" 
At  that  moment  Volkonsky  stated  that  a  Mme. 
de  Kriidener  insisted  upon  an  interview. 

The  interview  might  colloquially  be  called  a 
spiritual  "  dressing-down."  It  reduced  the  Tsar  to 
tears  of  penitence.  Mme.  de  Krudener's  ascend- 
ancy over  him  was  immediate  and  complete.  She 
followed  him  to  Paris  ;  for  four  months  his  inter- 
views with  her  were  constant.  Paris  chuckled,  until 
it  realized  that  the  blue-eyed  Valerie  of  legend 
was  a  white-haired  woman  in  rough  monastic 
garments.  Paris  wondered,  grew  anxious,  and  pro- 
vided sirens,  knowing  the  old  Alexander.  He 
would  not  meet  them.  Metternich  imported  others 
from  Vienna;    the  Emperor  laughed  at  them. 

During  these  months  Mme.  de  Kriidener  dictated 
the  plan  of  the  Holy  Alliance  and  planned  the 
future  of  Europe.  In  September  Paris  beheld  the 
strange  spectacle  of  the  Tsar  and  his  mentor 
kneeling  before  the  army  of  Russia,  drawn  up  in 
review  on  the  Plaine  des  Vertus.  When  Alexander 
left  for  St.  Petersburg  it  was  agreed  that  his  con- 
fessor was  to  follow  him.  However,  the  next  three 
years  were  passed  in  wandering  from  place  to  place, 
in  Switzerland  and  Germany,  preaching,  praying, 
and  giving  alms  :  much  to  the  grievance  of  the 
police,  since  Mme.  de  Krudener's  methods  had  the 
undesirable   effect   of   collecting   vast   quantities   of 

298 


A   Love  Affair 

sick,  destitute,  and  broken  people,  who  were  very 
difficult  to  deal  with. 

Before  she  could  rejoin  Alexander  those  who 
feared  her  influence  had  turned  him  against  her. 
They  met  again,  but  the  spell  was  broken. 
Eventually  she  departed  for  the  Crimea  with  a 
party  of  Swiss  and  German  colonists.  But  the 
end  was  near .  The  first  winter  was  a  hard  one ; 
she  was  worn  out  with  the  excesses  of  religious 
emotion  and  a  victim  of  incurable  disease*  On 
the  morning  of  Christmas,  1824,  she  died,  in  the 
presence  of  her  daughter  Julie.  She  was  buried 
for  a  time  in  the  Armenian  church  at  Kurasu- 
Basar.  Eleven  months  later  Alexander  came  to 
pray  by  her  remains.  A  few  days  later,  struck 
down  by  disease,  he  died  at  Taganrog. 

She  had  outlived  Garat,  the  man  she  loved  with 
folly,  by  two  years.  Napoleon,  the  man  who 
would  not  love  her,  whom  she  hated  in  the  depths 
of  her  being,  had  died  nearly  four  years  earlier 
"  in  a  desert  island  in  the  farthest  seas." 


299 


CHAPTER    XIV 
A   LOVER   OF   WOMEN 

Garat  the  lover — The  psychology  of  fickleness — The  cry  of  the 
race — Garat  the  slave  of  impulse— Mme.  Dugazon — Mile. 
Roussellois — The  morals  of  the  Directoire — The  Duchesse 
de  Fleury  and  her  lovers — In  prison  :  Andre  Chenier — Maltia 
Garat — Mme  de  Bellegarde— Garat's  children  :  their  history — 
Lesser  loves — Mile.  Duchamp. 

While  our  singer  is  yet  at  the  zenith  of  his  glory, 
before  his  forces  fail,  or  his  fees  decrease,  before 
a  fickle  public,  dazzled  by  barbaric  soldiers,  forgets 
the  importance  of  a  perfect  cravat  :  while  the 
vocalist  is  yet  unrivalled,  and  before  the  exquisite 
has  lost  his  disciples,  let  us  consider  two  aspects  of 
the  man  which  hitherto  we  have  barely  regarded  : 
the  lover  of  women,  and  the  writer  of  songs. 

Let  us  frankly  admit  that  monogamy  is  not 
natural  to  unregenerate  man.  For  too  vast  a  por- 
tion of  the  history  of  the  human  species  the  husband 
was  the  survivor  of  many  dead  in  battle  or  the 
chase ;  the  supply  of  women  was  accordingly 
excessive.  Those  civilizations  which  have  adopted 
monogamy    have    been    under    a    continual    stress. 

300 


A  Lover  of  Women 

In  times  of  social  flux  divorce  has  suddenly 
appeared,  or  concubinage,  or  they  have  been  cursed 
by  that  eternal  plague  the  "  social  evil." 

Legal  monogamy  is  a  corollary  of  peace,  an 
intense  respect  for  property,  and  the  increasing 
individuality  of  women  in  a  position  of  economic 
dependence.  The  more  strongly  it  is  established 
the  more  nominal  it  is  in  fact. 

Half  the  nations  of  the  world  have  recognized 
the  fickleness  of  man  as  a  fact  of  human  nature, 
and  have  practised  polygamy  or  divorce,  thereby 
saving  man  from  a  diseased  conscience. 

If  in  Garat  we  find  this  fickleness  more  than 
commonly  pronounced  we  may  call  him  a  rake, 
a  Don  Juan,  a  seducer,  an  immoral  person  ;  and 
if  we  are  capable  of  so  doing  we  probably  feel 
that  we  have  closed  the  question.  It  is  more 
philosophical,  more  charitable,  more  interesting  to 
look  to  the  root  of  things.  If  Garat  went  from 
flower  to  flower,  or  rather  if  he,  the  rose,  welcomed 
butterfly  after  butterfly,  what  was  the  secret  of 
his  catholicity?  Why  was  he  not  rather  ,to  be 
typified— since  we  venture  among  figures— by  the 
bird-cage  on  which  the  birds  of  the  air  may  per- 
chance alight,  attracted  by  the  food  within,  but 
which   holds   its    captive   in   security  ? 

To  delve  no  more  deeply,  we  must  remember 
that  Garat  was  a  man  of  mixed  race,  whose  whole 
life  was  a  training  in  obedience  to  the  instinctive 

301 


Pierre  Garat 

self.  Muscle  and  mind  and  impulse  were  patiently 
drilled  to  express  emotion,  and  when  the  lesson 
was  learned  they  were  ready  to  answer  to  its  call, 
to  be  its  unfailing  servants.  If  the  subliminal 
self  was  trained  to  respond  with  the  fitting  gesture, 
the  conscious  self  was  also  trained  to  express  or 
enhance  the  subliminal  response.  The  executive 
artist  whose  instrument  is  his  body  is  at  times  the 
slave  of  his  servants.  Trained  to  listen  to  the  voice 
of  emotion,  to  evoke  and  express  it,  when  a  mightier 
than  he  evokes  it  he  can  but  obey.  The  dead 
within  us,  whose  cry  for  life  is  love,  know  nothing 
of  results ;  the  impulse  that  leads  to  a  trivial 
fugitive  kiss  rises  from  depths  as  profound  as  the 
passion  that  founds  a  race. 

As  our  environment  varies,  so  the  ancestral 
influences  that  dominate  us  suffer  change.  The 
circumstances  of  Garat's  life  were  always  changing. 
His  boyhood  was  passed  amid  the  solid  bourgeois 
decencies  of  Bordeaux  and  Bayonne,  or  the  quiet  of 
the  Euskarian  hills.  He  came  to  Paris  at  its  wildest 
period  ;  his  Mecca  was  a  world  above  the  moralities 
of  the  herd;  his  playground  a  world  below  them. 
For  a  season  he  was  in  the  shadow  of  death,  he 
whose  body  was  as  dear  to  him  as  the  fairest 
woman's,  because  as  the  player  and  the  posturer 
whose  instrument  was  himself  he  was  aware  of  it 
utterly,  and  found  his  joy  in  that  awareness  ;  he 
passed  out  into  a  world  renewed  whose  cult  was 
that  of  life  and  the  body  so  nearly  lost ;    a  world 

302 


A  Lover   of  Women 

of  women,  no  longer  dazed  with  dread,  thirsty  for 
life  and  eager  to  give  their  beauty,  eager  that 
others  should  share  their  love  for  it ;  displaying 
and  concealing  that  beauty  in  such  proportions 
as  to  render  it  most  provocative.  He  had  no 
religious  beliefs.  He  did  not  conceive  the  body 
to  be  foul  nor  its  food  a  poison.  He  had  not 
learned  to  deny  life. 

He  had,  in  short,  the  morals  of  his  age  :  the 
morals  of  a  bachelor  in  a  world  of  generous  and 
easy  women.  To  him  the  only  sin  was  excess; 
if  he  sinned  it  once,  it  was  to  learn  the  virtue  of 
temperance,  for  he  was  an  artist,  and  his  instrument 
was  himself.  Otherwise— let  us  frankly  admit  it- 
given  the  man  and  his  age  there  was  no  conceiv- 
able reason  why  he  should  ever  play  the  part  of 
a  Joseph. 

If  he  loved  himself  with  passion,  and  desired 
others  so  to  love  him,  if  he  was  rather  the  wooed 
than  the  wooer,  he  was  not,  as  a  lover,  either 
passive  or  insincere.  This  we  know  :  he  had  the 
reputation  of  being  a  gallant  lover  ;  to  whom  the 
well-beloved  of  the  hour  was  truly  the  long-desired, 
the  fore-ordained ;  and  he  sought  with  all  his 
faculties  to  give  her  happiness.  Fidelity  was  diffi- 
cult, but  when  he  became  a  father  he  seems  for 
a  time  to  have  achieved  it.  Yet  he  was  never 
completely  a  father,  and  in  that  fact  lay  some  of 
the  sadness   of  his   later  years. 

303 


Pierre  Garat 

Of  Mme.  Dugazon,  the  brave  and  loyal,  there 
is  not  much  more  to  say  than  has  been  said.  The 
affair  was  truly  one  of  Time's  revenges.  For  the 
lovers  of  the  fair  Dugazon  had  been  legion,  but 
they  had  given  more  than  they  received.  It  was 
her  turn  now  to  love  in  earnest,  and  to  love  the 
longer.  Beautiful  both  in  feature  and  in  form, 
with  a  face,  a  voice,  and  a  manner  full  of  ever- 
changing  charm,  she  was  ten  years  Garat's  senior  : 
a  dangerous  age  to  such  a  woman.  She  conceived 
a  reckless,  half-maternal  passion  for  the  brilliant 
boy,  so  rich  in  those  treasures  of  youth,  enthusiasm, 
and  freshness  to  which  she  herself  was  slowly  and 
reluctantly  bidding  farewell.  Garat  was  equally 
intoxicated ;  for  a  time  the  beautiful,  generous 
woman  was  his  whole  world  ;  it  was  a  first  passion, 
and  one  that  knew  no  restraints.  Paris  was  keenly 
interested ;  many  prophesied  disaster.  However, 
the  years  went  by,  and  the  singer  still  remained 
the  official  cavalier  of  the  beautiful  Dugazon.  By 
the  time  the  whole  world  was  used  to  the  affair 
it  was  dying  a  natural  death.  But  it  was  easier  for 
Mme.  Dugazon  to  be  faithful  than  for  Garat;  for 
the  woman  of  much  experience,  rather  than  the 
singer,  who,  as  he  found  his  feet,  was  courted 
and  flattered  by  younger  women  and  women  of 
another  world.  It  is  probable  that  she  suffered, 
but  we  hear  of  no  reproaches.  Jealousy  in  the 
world  of  society  was  ridiculous  :  in  the  world  of 
the  stage  it  was  almost  improper. 

304 


MME.    DUGAZON. 

From  the  miniature  by  Jacques  in  the  Pierpont  Morgan  Collection. 

(Reproduced  by  special  permission  :   all  rights  reserved.) 


To  face  p.  304. 


A  Lover  of  Women 

They  were  no  more  than  friends  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  Revolution ;  the  disasters  predicted  had 
not  overtaken  Garat.  When  we  consider  what  Paris 
was,  we  may  fairly  conclude  that  Garat  had  many 
reasons  for  gratitude  to  the  beautiful  actress  ;  he 
might  well  have  fallen  into  worse  hands.  Mme. 
Dugazon's  emotional  career,  before  she  met  Garat, 
was  extremely  varied ;  but  therein  it  did  not 
differ  from  that  of  any  other  actress ;  she 
did  not  sin  against  her  lights.  All  else  that 
we  know  of  her  is  pleasant ;  and  her  own  sex 
loved  her. 

As  such  matters  were  then  regarded,  the  social 
status  of  the  secretary  of  the  King's  brother, 
member  of  an  old  Parliamentary  family,  was  such 
that  a  great  lady  might  without  scandal  favour  him. 
Scandal,  indeed,  whispered  the  name  of  a  queen  ; 
but  no  name  was  unsullied  in  the  golden  age  of 
manners.  In  Court,  in  the  city,  and  behind  the 
scenes  Garat  was  more  than  a  notoriety  ;  he  was 
liked  for  his  gaiety,  his  good-humour,  his  imperti- 
nent wit,  and  his  voice  was  responsible  for  a  host 
of  declarations.  It  became  the  fashion  to  sigh 
for  the  singer  who  made  one  weep.  The  multi- 
plicity of  his  "  affairs  "  was  probably  exaggerated  ; 
he  was  a  busy  man,  a  hard  worker  both  as  dandy 
and  as  singer  ;  he  could  afford  no  way  of  life  that 
involved  a  physical  or  emotional  strain  ;  the  singer 
must  be  as  careful  of  his  condition  as  a  boxer. 
Moreover,  he  was  a  romantic  ;    it  was  a  romantic 

305  u 


Pierre  Garat 

age  ;  the  ladies  who  adored  him,  wept  when  he 
sang,  and  trembled  to  reward  him,  would  have 
expected  his  attentions  to  continue,  if  only  for  the 
sake  of  appearances,  for  at  least  a  few  weeks  or 
months.  We  can  afford  to  ignore  rumour,  and  to 
believe  that  most  of  his  adventures  were  genuine 
passions,  and  that  he  commonly  limited  himself  to 
one  at  a  time. 

If  we  are  to  believe  the  historian,  his  second 
official  passion  was  for  the  darling  of  the  Rouen 
public ;  the  madcap  lover  of  flowing  waters  and 
the  open  air  ;  the  sportswoman  who  might  be  found 
wading  thigh-deep  along  the  shoal  banks  of  the 
Seine,  intently  watching  her  bobbing  float,  while 
an  angry  company  waited  for  rehearsal  in  the  half- 
lit,  empty  theatre.  Whether  he  supplanted  the 
envious  troubadour  who  corrupted  justice,  or 
whether,  the  singer  fairly  out  of  the  way  behind 
the  walls  of  Saint-Yon,  the  mysterious  enemy  sup- 
planted him,  the  pen  of  rumour  has  not  recorded. 
It  may  be  even  that  the  passion  is  mythical ;  on 
the  other  hand,  after  Garat's  return  from  his  first 
foreign  tour  we  find  Mile.  Roussellois  in  Paris, 
appearing  with  Garat  at  the  Concert  Feydeau. 

In  the  motley  world  of  the  Directoire  the  siege 
of  Garat's  heart  commenced  with  renewed  vigour  ; 
it  was  a  time  when  every  woman  was  eager  to  love, 

306 


A  Lover  of  Women 

to  bestow  her  treasures  of  beauty  and  tenderness. 
For  the  young  a  childhood  of  terror  and  repression 
was  over  ;  those  who  were  older  hastened  to  make 
up  for  the  wasted  years,  to  seize  a  little  joy  before 
youth  was  flown.  The  Goddess  of  Reason  was 
dethroned;  in  her  place  was  life.  The  cult  of  the 
body  was  supreme ;  the  age  of  innocence  was 
renewed;  romance  purified  everything.  It  was 
an  age  of  frank  physical  existence  ;  as  the  men 
heaped  on  fresh  upholstery,  growing  ever  less 
human  in  shape,  the  women  proceeded  to  disrobe. 
For  a  week  they  hovered  on  the  brink  of  nudity, 
then  returned  to  the  provocative. 

From  a  wilderness  of  Eves  our  singer  was  saved 
by  again  falling  in  love  :  with  the  madcap  Duchesse 
de  Fleury.  The  daughter  of  the  Comte  de  Coigny, 
the  sister  of  the  Due  de  Coigny,  she  was  married 
to  de  Fleury  at  fourteen.  "  Her  face  was  enchant- 
ing ;  her  glance  burning  ;  her  shape  that  of  Venus, 
and  her  mind  remarkable."  J  Nigritta  was  her 
name  at  home  ;  given  her  for  her  olive  complexion, 
her  crisp  black  tresses,  and  her  dark  eyes.  Her 
own  name  for  herself  was  Zilia,  "  daughter  of  the 
Sun  "  ;  a  name  borrowed  from  the  Lettres  (Tune 
Peravienne  of  Mme.  de  Graffigny.  "  With  a  keen 
imagination  and  an  ardent  mind,"  she  was  a  warm- 
hearted, natural,  high-spirited  girl,  with  a  strain 
of  wildness  that  held  nothing  too  adventurous  or 
eccentric.  She  had  the  true  aristocrat's  contempt 
1  Mme.  Vigee  Le  Brun. 
307 


Pierre  Garat 

of  opinion  and  of  consequences.  Her  marriage  was 
not  happy.  Her  husband  succeeded  to  the  ducal 
title  in  1788.  A  bosom  friend  of  the  Duchesse  de 
Chartres,  she  was  indispensable  to  the  latter  on 
all  social  occasions.  In  the  salons  of  the  Palais - 
Royal  she  was  as  though  at  home,  one  of  a  company 
that  included  Mmes.  de  Beauveau,  de  Luxembourg, 
de  Segur,  de  Talleyrand.  She  was  the  enfant 
terrible  of  the  Court.  Mme.  de  Laval,  one  day, 
defended  the  prerogatives  of  the  nobles,  which 
Turgot  had  attacked.  "  Whatever  respect  I  may 
have  for  the  King,"  cried  the  little  Duchess,  "  I 
should  never  consider  that  I  owe  what  I  am  to 
him.  I  know  nobles  have  made  sovereigns,  but 
I  defy  you  to  tell  me  what  king  has  made  us 
nobles  !  " 

Mme.  de  Genlis  tells  us  a  story  which  has 
nothing  to  do  with  Garat ;  but  it  serves  to  illus- 
trate her  frank  unconventionality.  Remember  the 
scene  is  the  palace  of  a  de  Rohan,  and  the  period 
the  ancien  regime. 

"  She  was  at  supper  at  Versailles,  at  the 
Princesse  de  Guemenee's,  where  there  was  a  large 
company  as  usual.  Mme.  de  Fleury  had  been  to 
Court  and  was  in  full  Court  dress.  Instead  of 
removing  her  train  before  she  came  in  she  took 
it  off  in  the  salon.  Mme.  de  Guemenee,  laughing, 
advised  her  also  to  remove  her  enormous  pannier. 
'  Gladly  !  '  cried  Mme.  de  Fleury.  At  this  unex- 
pected    reply     several     ladies     ran     towards     her, 

308 


A   Lover  of  Women 

encouraging  her  to  do  so,  as  a  jest ;  they  removed 
her  pannier,  her  superb  petticoat,  undressed  her,  in 
short,  and  in  a  twinkling  of  the  eye  there  she  stood 
in  her  long  body  and  palatine,  in  a  petticoat  as 
short  as  an  inverted  basin,  on  which  her  two  great 
pockets  (a  basis  for  the  pannier)  quivered  as  she 
walked.  All  this  in  the  presence  of  fifty  persons  ! 
Mme.  de  Fleury  remained  in  this  strange  costume 
all  the  evening,  from  half-past  nine,  until  two  in  the 
morning,  as  though  she  had  done  the  simplest  thing 
in  the  world." 

Husband  and  wife  emigrated  in  1791.  De 
Fleury  joined  the  Royalist  army  at  Coblentz  ;  his 
wife  proceeded  to  Rome.  There  she  found  a 
society  of  Fitz-Jameses,  Polignacs,  Grimaldis,  de 
Rohans,  and  the  like.  It  was  altogether  too 
oppressive  for  the  young  grass-widow :  with 
supreme  contempt  for  such  a  detail  as  the  law 
concerning  emigres  she  returned  to  France.  Her 
welcome  took  the  form  of  imprisonment  in  Saint- 
Lazare.  There  she  found  Andre  Chenier  ;  there, 
in  his  last  days,  he  wrote  for  her  that  flower  of 
poignant  and  unforced  pathos,  the  Jeune  Captive. 
For  her,  too,  he  wrote  the  ode  which  speaks  of 
the   "  gentle   white   dove  "  :— 

"  Blanche  et  douce  colomve,  amiable  prisonniere, 
Quel  injuste  ennemi  te  cache  a  la  lumiere  ? " 

She  was  more  of  a  magpie  than  a  dove  ;  some 
might   say  of   a   hawk.      Prison   had  no   power   to 

309 


Pierre  Garat 

break  her  spirit.  Fellow-prisoners,  those  she  rose 
up  and  lay  down  with,  intimate  companions  of  her 
long  months,  were  removed  in  batches  to  the 
tumbril ;  she  was  still  all  gaiety,  all  song  and 
laughter.  The  Duchesse  de  Biron  was  with  her; 
Horace  Walpole  has  the  news  from  the  Princesse 
d'Hennin  :  "  The  poor  Duchesse  de  Biron  is  again 
arrested  and  at  the  Jacobins,  and  with  her  '  une 
jeune  etourdie  qui  ne  fait  que  chanter  toute  la 
journee '  ;  and  who,  think  you,  may  that  be  ?— 
only  our  pretty  little  wicked  Duchesse  de  Fleury  1 
— by  her  singing  and  not  sobbing  I  suppose  she 
was  weary  of  her  Tircis,  and  is  glad  to  be  rid  of 
him." 

This  is  in  October,  1793.  And  Tircis?— poor 
Tircis  is  the  handsome  Lauzun,  now  Due  de  Biron, 
husband  of  her  friend  in  misfortune,  not  as  yet 
the  brilliant  leader  of  Republican  cavalry.  They 
had  met  at  the  house  of  a  de  Coigny.  He,  perhaps 
her  first  lover,  was  her  lover  for  quite  a  season. 
In  her  exile  she  writes  to  him  from  Naples  :  "  The 
moon  in  this  country  of  enchantments  is  more  truly 
our  divinity  than  in  other  lands  ;  the  ocean 
seems  to  be  here  only  to  reflect  and  adore  her  ;  it 
stirs  unwillingly,  and  when  it  complains  it  is  clear 
that  it  is  love  alone  that  has  disturbed  it." 

Not  the  absence  of  Tircis  ;  not  the  presence 
of  his  melancholy  wife  ;  not  the  long  months  in 
prison  could  silence  song  or  laughter.  Ch^nier 
was  one  of  the  last  to  bid  her  an  eternal  farewell  ; 

310 


A  Lover   of  Women 

he  died  only  two  short  days  before  the  fall  of 
the  Incorruptible.  Laughing,  as  she  had  entered, 
the  beautiful  Zilia   quitted  her  prison. 

There  was  reason  for  her  gaiety  in  prison.  She 
loved,  and  there  are  times  when  love  must  laugh  ; 
or  surrender  to  fears  too  hideous  for  the  light,  sweet 
heart  of  a  Zilia.  De  Montrond  was  her  fellow- 
prisoner  ;  in  the  days  of  renewed  hope  she  obtained 
her  freedom  from  de  Eleury,  and  became  a  willing 
wife.  The  strange,  motley  world  of  the  Directoire 
was  no  place  for  a  woman's  second  dream  of  love  ; 
the  happy  pair  retired  into  solitude.  Solitude,  alas  ! 
refused  them  ;  they  returned  to  Paris.  They  fared 
no  better;    there  was  a  fresh  divorce. 

Had  Zilia  heard  the  Troubadour  in  the  days 
before  the  deluge  ?  She  heard  him  now  ;  she  loved, 
she  surrendered.  There  was  no  question  of 
marriage.  But  then,  as  she  said,  in  reply  to  some 
one  who  complained  that  divorce  made  adultery 
pointless  :  "  Ah,  but  one  cannot  marry  them 
all  !  M 

Since  she  had  not  married,  she  could  not  divorce 
him.  The  inevitable  rupture  was  softened :  her 
next  lover  was  Garat's  brother. 

Maltia  Garat,  the  younger  brother,  had  followed 
in  the  footsteps  of  his  uncle  ;  he  was  a  legislator, 
a  member  of  the  Tribunate  ;  incidentally  the  lover 
of  the  Marquise  de  Condorcet.1      She,  it  appears, 

1  Maltia  Garat's  salon,  presided  over  by  Mme.  de  Condorcet,  was 
the  headquarters  of  the  Republican  opposition.     During  the  rest 

311 


Pierre  Garat 

bore  his  loss  with  equanimity,  perhaps  because 
his  small  political  value  was  destroyed.  He  had 
become  a  member  of  the  Tribunate  at  the  time  of 
its  creation,  in  I  799  ;  but  as  a  politician  he  was  not 
remarkable,  if  we  may  judge  him  by  the  following 
couplet  :— 

"  Pourquoi  ce  petit  homme  est-il  au  Tribunat? 
Cest  que  ce  petit  homme  a  son  oncle  au  Senate 

He  had  the  courage,  however,  to  sit  as  a  member 
of  the  Republican  Opposition,  and  was  expelled 
by  Napoleon  with  twenty  others.  Maltia,  who  for 
some  unknown  reason  preferred  to  be  known  as 
Mailla-Garat,  and  was  actually  known  as  Mailla 
or  Mail,  appears  to  have  been  less  gallant 
a  lover  than  his  brother.  Rumour  speaks  of 
another  of  time's  revenges  :  reports  that  the  mad- 
cap Zilia  laughed  no  longer.  Who  knows?— it 
was  long  before  she  took  another  lover.  Shall 
we  attribute  this  to  the  fidelity  or  the  cruelty 
of  Maltia?  Rumour  says  they  had  long  been 
parted. 

It  was  in  18  13  that  Mme.  de  Montrond  bestowed 
her  hand— informally  still— upon  Etienne  de  Jouy, 
the  "  hermit  of  the  Chaussee  d'Antin."  But  her 
laughing  days  were  over.  When  the  Bourbons 
were  restored  her  father  returned  to  France  ;    with 

of  the  Empire  he  was  employed  in  the  Archives.  He  retired,  at  the 
time  of  the  first  Restoration,  into  private  life,  emerging  only  during 
the  Hundred  Days. 

312 


A   Lover  of  Women 

him  she  found  a  refuge,  and  in  him  an  asylum  for 
her  affections.  She  died  in  1820,  at  the  age  of 
forty-nine.  It  was  time  ;  she  was  a  butterfly  of 
the  golden  age,  and  the  new  world  was  to  her 
a  grey  and  melancholy  place.  For  a  time,  in  the 
days  when  the  eternal  lover  wore  the  face  of  Garat, 
she  lived  at  Meudon,  with  Mmes.  de  Bellegarde. 
The  three  ladies  shared  a  house  in  the  outskirts  of 
the  town.  It  was  there  that  Mme.  Le  Brun  came 
to  know  them. 

Calling  on  Mme.  de  Fleury  at  Meudon,  or 
perhaps  upon  Mme.  Le  Brun,  or  visiting  his 
brother  Maltia,  Garat  met  the  Comtesse  de 
Bellegarde. 

His  affair  with  Mme.  de  Kriidener,  which  was 
not  of  his  seeking,  followed  his  rupture  with  Mme. 
de  Fleury.  Had  he  met  the  Comtesse  de  Belle- 
garde at  the  time  ?  History  is  silent ;  if  he  had, 
his  summary  treatment  of  Valerie  is  perhaps 
explained. 

For  the  Comtesse  de  Bellegarde  was  his  next 
conquest,  or  the  next  to  conquer  him ;  and  because 
he  truly  loved  her,  or  because,  being  truly  a  great 
lady,  he  respected  and  feared  her,  his  relations 
with  her  were  lasting,  and  had  all  the  respectability 
of  an  informal  marriage. 

She  was  a  member  of  the  house  of  Savoy,  cousin 
to  the  King  of  Sardinia.  She  lived  with  her  sister, 
Aurore  de  Bellegarde,  and  was  a  prominent  figure 

3i3 


Pierre  Garat 

in  the  more  exclusive  circles  of  the  society  of  the 
Directoire. 

Garat's  connection  with  her  lasted  for  many 
years.  It  was  at  first  concealed  from  the  eyes  of 
the  world;  but  a  daughter  was  born  in  1803,  and 
a  son  followed. 

The  sister,  Aurore,  closed  her  eyes  ;  she  may 
herself  have  been  in  need  of  practical  charity.  The 
world  also  closed  its  eyes  as  far  as  it  could  ;  Mme. 
de  Bellegarde  was  a  lady  whom  the  new  society  was 
eager  to  conciliate.  It  is  possible  that  Garat  con- 
tinued to  yield  to  lesser  loves  ;  but  the  connection 
had  in  many  ways  the  force  of  a  marriage. 

In  some  Latin  societies,  whose  members  enjoy 
unlimited  leisure,  and  in  which  marriages  are  deter- 
mined by  economic  or  family  reasons,  conjugal 
infidelity  is  purely  a  matter  of  private  taste  ;  but 
the  so-called  irregular,  or  let  us  say  the  extra- 
domestic  relation,  cannot  be  broken  or  infringed 
without  disgrace.  White-haired  octogenarians  still 
find  their  way,  for  a  few  hours  of  every  afternoon, 
to  the  salon  of  the  beloved  "friend."  The  reason 
is  easy  to  grasp  :  with  leisure,  and  the  habit  of  the 
established  afternoon  call,  an  affection  springs  up 
that  is  independent  of  passion.  In  the  Paris  of  the 
Empire  such  relations  existed,  but  were  rare  ;  in 
the  case  of  Garat,  whose  every  hour  was  occupied, 
love  was  and  remained  a  passion,  but  little  more. 
In  the  course  of  time  it  came  to  a  natural  end. 

During  the  Directoire  and  the  early  Empire  the 

314 


A  Lover  of  Women 

ladies  de  Bellegarde  were  much  in  society :  in 
particular  they  had  a  very  warm  friendship  for 
Talleyrand.  So  long  as  the  connection  lasted, 
Garat  was  their  escort  thither.  The  valet  de 
chambre  was  accustomed  to  announce  them : 
"  Mesdames  de  Bellegarde  and  Garat."  The 
singer,  between  one  woman  who  sought  to  dis- 
semble their  relations  and  a  hundred  who  sought 
to  make  it  plain  that  they  envied  her  lot,  was  bound 
in  time  to  permit  himself  further  adventures  ;  for 
this  reason  or  another  the  relation  was  officially 
broken.  The  ladies  de  Bellegarde  continued  to  call 
on  the  ex-Bishop  of  Autun.  Garat,  as  always, 
still  frequented  his  salon.  The  valet  de  chambre, 
like  the  singer,  was  the  slave  of  the  subliminal 
self :  when  the  Comtesse  de  Bellegarde  entered 
his  announcement  was  still  the  same  :  "  Mesdames 
de  Bellegarde  and  Garat  "  ! 

The  daughter  of  Mme.  de  Bellegarde,  born  in 
Messidor  of  the  year  X,  was  registered  as  the 
natural  daughter  of  Pierre-Jean  Garat,  professor 
at  the  Conservatoire  de  Musique,  and  Adelaide 
Victoire  de  Bellegarde. 

Her  history  is  curious.  At  the  age  of  .twenty- 
five  she  met— we  may  suppose  at  the  house  of  one 
of  the  Garats — a  tax-collector  of  Ustaritz,  Paulin 
Soubiron.     She  married  him. 

A  true  Parisian,  she  was  not  content  in  the  leafy 
solitude  of  the  Pyrenean  foothills.  On  the  roads 
of  Ustaritz,  she  was  known  to  complain,  one  never 

3i5 


Pierre   Garat 

met  anything  but  donkeys  !  Early  a  widow,  she 
returned  to  Paris  rather  than  continue  in  the  South. 
Her  little  fortune,  invested,  yielded  an  income  of 
something  like  £120;  it  was  a  modest  living.  She 
was  not  a  mother  ;  to  her  the  dearest  thing  in  the 
world  was  the  memory  of  her  father.  As  Mme. 
Soubiron  Garat  de  Bellegarde  she  was  long  an 
habitue  of  the  circle  of  her  father's  friends  ;  par- 
ticularly attached  to  the  Bo'ieldieu  family,  she  often 
visited  them  in  Rouen.  In  Paris  she  had  a  little 
house  in  the  Boulevarde  Montmartre,  which  was 
almost  a  Garat  museum  :  a  shrine  to  the  singer's 
memory. 

So  her  life  slipped  away.  Her  only  brother, 
Garat  de  Chenoise,1  who  served  awhile  in  the  body- 
guard of  Louis  XVIII  and  Charles  X,  had  died  in 
1837.  In  old  age  a  fall  resulted  in  serious  injury, 
and  she  was  taken  to  the  tnalson  de  sante.  A 
characteristic  incident  of  her  stay  there  is  recorded  : 
the  chaplain  of  the  establishment  having  entered 
her  room  to  pay  her  a  visit,  she  angrily  showed 
him  the  door.  When  at  length  she  left  the  maison 
de  sante  her  courage  and  her  strength  were  broken  : 
for  the  short  remainder  of  her  life  she  lodged,  in 
absolute  seclusion,  with  one  of  the  attendants  of 
the  hospital.  She  died  in  1882,  in  her  eightieth 
year. 

When   Garat's  connection   with  Mme.   de  Belle- 

1  Chenoise  was  a  title  of  the  Bellegarde  family. 
316 


A   Lover  of  Women 

garde  relapsed  into  friendship  the  singer  was  no 
longer  young.  Society  had  changed;  Paris  was 
a  far  more  complex  world  than  the  world  of  his 
youth.  He  was  no  longer,  in  the  world,  quite  the 
figure  he  had  been  :  he  seldom  sang,  and  although 
he  by  no  means  became  a  recluse  the  best  part 
of  his  life  was  perhaps  passed  in  the  classrooms 
of  the  Conservatoire.  To  the  girl  students, 
aspirants  to  the  platform  or  the  stage,  their  senior 
professor,  the  ornament  of  courts  and  the  lover  of 
great  ladies,  was  a  heroic  and  romantic  figure. 
To  them  he  was  irresistible  as  ever  ;  and  if  hero- 
worship  led  them  to  more  human  relations,  they 
were  doubly  finished  for  their  part  in  life ;  for 
the  general  conditions  and  the  morals  of  the  stage 
had  hardly  improved  since  Garat's  youth. 

It  was  now,  in  middle  age,  that  he  took  to  live 
with  him  one  such  pupil,  who  failed  him  indeed 
as  pupil,  but  was  his  companion  until  his  death  ; 
perhaps  his  wife.  Of  her,  the  last  of  many 
conquests,   we   shall   speak   in   due   place. 

There  is  his  record.  He  was,  as  his  least  friendly 
biographer  allows,  a  gallant  man.  It  was  not  easy 
for  him  to  refuse  what  was  offered  in  generosity, 
often  in  love.  But  he  wronged  no  one  ;  if  he  was 
unfaithful,  fidelity  was  more  than  could  have  been 
required  of  him.  His  morals,  as  we  have  said, 
were  those  of  his  time  and  race  ;  and  they  had 
their   qualities.      He   was  not   capricious  :    he   was 


Pierre  Garat 

not  selfish  :    and  it  took  a  Russian  to  accuse  him 
of  being  heartless. 

His  lifelong  search  after  the  well-beloved  left 
him,  in  the  end,  betrayed ;  his  children  were  hardly 
his  own ;  and  the  only  mistress  with  whom  he 
ever  shared  a  home  was  childless.  In  his  case 
adventure  was  its  own  reward. 


3i8 


CHAPTER    XV 
THE   SINGER  AND   WRITER   OF   SONGS 

The  old  romances  of  the  ancien  regime  and  the  Directory — 
Music  during  the  Revolution — Garat  as  singer  of  romances — 
Garat  as  composer — Other  composers  whose  songs  he  sang — 
His  manner  of  singing  them — A  great  teacher — His  theories 
and  methods  —  His  pupils  :  Fabry  Garat  —  An  anecdote 
"  Roubespierry  the  upright  man  " — Garat's  other  brothers  and 
his  sister. 

In  old  provincial  houses,  behind  the  high  glazed 
doors  and  the  moth-eaten  silken  curtains  of  ancient 
rosewood  bookcases  ;  in  quiet  country  parsonages, 
where  the  contents  of  the  music-cupboard  have 
accumulated  through  long  Victorian  years  ;  within 
old  chintz-covered  music-stools,  or  stored  in  dusty 
lofts,  perhaps  beside  the  small  square-ended  pianos 
or  long-derelict  claviers  that  once  tinkled  to  their 
accompaniments,  you  may  find,  yellow  with  age, 
marked  with  mould  and  worn  by  long-dead  fingers, 
certain  songs  brought  long  ago  by  venturesome 
travellers  from  Paris,  or  imported  by  the  London 
music-sellers  when  the  Regent  was  the  First 
Gentleman  ;  songs  with  a  tinkling,  rippling  accom- 
paniment, full  of  trills  and  runs,  roulades  and  dying 

3i9 


Pierre   Garat 

falls  ;  songs  of  roses,  and  moonlight,  and  the  love 
of  gentle  shepherdesses.  You  will  ask  for  them 
in  vain  at  the  music-shops  of  to-day,  and  if  you 
sing  them  they  will  sound  strange  and  unnatural 
in  the  comfortable  modern  gaslight.  Once  they 
were  sung  by  all  Europe,  and  the  old  stale 
properties  were  alive,  the  shepherdesses  were  flesh 
and  blood  ;  the  trills  and  runs  made  no  one  nervous 
lest  the  singer's  voice  should  crack  or  flatten,  but 
were  the  throbs  of  living  emotion  ;  and  eyes  were 
wet  when  the  tinkling  strings  were  still. 

All  ages  sing  the  thing  they  are  not.  In  the 
mannered,  exquisite  Court  of  Louis  XVI  the 
romance,  the  rustic  idyll,  was  the  only  song  in 
fashion.  Music  reflected  the  "sensibility"  of  the 
age  ;  the  "  return  to  nature,"  the  longing  for  chaste 
simplicity. 

7he  fashion  was  started,  the  historians  tell  us, 
by  the  Sieur  de  Beaumarchais,  whose  opera,  Le 
Manage  de  Figaro,  contained  a  song  our  grand- 
fathers knew  :  J' avals  une  marraine.  As  the  poet 
writes  most  readily  in  cities,  so  the  romance-writers 
of  the  day,  giving  expression  to  faculties  repressed 
by  life,  wrote  of  all  that  was  most  opposed  to  the 
world  they  knew.  The  world  they  wrote  of  was 
a  world  of  false  rusticities,  deliberate  simplicities, 
genuine  tenderness.  It  reflected  but  refined  on  the 
world  of  painters  ;  of  Watteau,  Kauffman,  Boucher, 
Fragonard,  Greuze.  It  was  a  world  where  the 
day  was  always  fair,  the  season  always  warm  ;    a 

320 


The  Singer  and  Writer   of  Songs 

world  of  peasant -girls,  neat  and  sweet  and  fragrant 
as  no  French  peasant  ever  was  ;  of  shepherdesses 
who  lay,  clothed  in  gauze  or  satin,  on  banks  of 
moss,  yet  did  not  die  of  pneumonia  ;  of  shepherds 
learned  in  the  classics,  who  wooed  the  coy  hearts 
of  their  mistresses  with  rustic  pipe  or  song.  All 
this  was  only  the  machinery  ;  it  was  accidental, 
a  mere  fashion.  The  real  essence  of  these  romances 
was  the  longing  for  simple  and  beautiful  emotion, 
for  the  recognition  of  the  simple  and  eternal  things 
of  life,  that  before  the  Revolution  was  making 
itself  felt  beneath  the  artificiality  and  pomp  of 
the  ancien  regime. 

They  expressed,  these  songs,  a  genuine  love  of 
Nature  which  was  already  perceptible  in  letters, 
and  was  later  to  find  a  fuller  if  hardly  more  genuine 
expression  in  romanticism.  The  silence  of  dawn, 
the  cry  of  birds,  the  charm  of  running  water,  the 
coolness  and  mystery  of  the  woods  :  all  that  was 
farthest  from  a  silken,  mannered  world  of  aristo- 
crats . 

The  music  was  similarly  a  mingling  of  the 
natural  and  the  artificial,  the  realistic  and  the 
affected.  Much  of  it  consisted  of  "  fireworks  "  ; 
of  trills,  roulades,  fioritiiri,  that  were  meant  to 
try  the  singer's  utmost  art,  and  triumphantly  to 
exhibit  the  genius  of  such  vocalization  as  Garat's. 
Yet  it  aimed  also  at  description  ;  those  rippling, 
murmuring  melodies  evoked  a  sense  of  brooks 
flickering    over    pebbly    beds  ;     of    the    rhythm    of 

321  x 


Pierre  Garat 

treetops  tossing  in  a  May  wind  ;  of  the  tinkle  of 
sheep-bells,   and  the  song  of  birds  before  dawn. 

The  Revolution  brought  no  change  in  the  quality 
of  songs  ;  the  butchers  of  the  Terror  not  only 
hummed  these  gaily  plaintive  melodies  ;  they  even 
wrote  them.  Their  victims  also  continued  their 
accustomed  strain,  unsilenced  by  the  shadow  of 
the  scaffold.  Fabre  d'feglantine,  only  a  few  days 
before  his  death,  wrote  the  words  to  Limare's 
melody  :  //  pleut,  il  pleut,  bergere,  which  was  sung 
by  the  victims  of  Tinville  as  the  tumbrils  bore 
them  to  their  death  ;  it  was  during  the  Terror  that 
Laharpe  wrote  his  pastoral,  O  ma  tendre  musette, 
and  Garat  his  Troubadour  and  La  Mie  du  Trouba- 
dour. 

It  was  by  singing  these  tender  little  poems,  with 
an  exquisite  sensibility,  a  touching  sincerity,  an 
infallible  charm,  that  Garat  won  his  place  in  the 
heart  of  Paris.  He  was  not  merely  the  brilliant 
artist,  the  witty  companion,  the  gallant  lover,  the 
impeccable  dandy  ;  he  was  the  man  who  brought 
tears  into  the  heart  and  the  eyes,  who  refreshed 
the  weariness  of  age,  and  uttered  aloud  the  secret 
of  love. 

To  give  a  list  of  his  favourite  songs  were  use- 
less ;  the  titles  to-day  are  only  names.  But  some 
few  of  these  titles,  chosen  at  random,  will  give 
some  idea  of  the  fashion  of  song  :  Bouton  de 
rose;  Charmant  ruisseau;  Te  bien  aimer,  6  ma 
chere  Zelie  ;  Le  feuille  de  rose ;  Le  menestrel  exile ; 

322 


The  Singer  and   Writer  of  Songs 

Le  jour  se  leve ;  Que  faime  les  hirondelles ;  Le 
premier  balser  de  V amour .  .  .  .  And  the  airs  are 
by  such  men  as  Pradher,  Plantade,  Devienne, 
Blangini.  As  for  the  words,  there  was  not  a  poet 
in  France  but  sooner  or  later  tried  his  hand  at  the 
romance  ;  among  those  whose  efforts  were  happiest 
were  Millevoye,  Riboutte,  de  Cubieres,  and  Mmes. 
de  Salm  and  Sophie  Gay. 

Garat  himself  maintained  for  years,  so  far  as 
the  general  world  was  concerned,  the  legend  that 
he  was  not  acquainted  with  music.  Naturally,  in 
musical  circles,  among  the  prominent  composers 
of  the  time,  at  the  opera  among  experts,  in  the 
green-room  and  at  rehearsals,  the  extent  of  his 
ignorance  would  soon  be  betrayed.  Whatever  were 
the  deficiencies  of  his  musical  education,  his 
ordinary  way  of  life  would  rapidly  complete  it.  He 
was  not  an  accomplished  pianist  ;  his  performances, 
it  will  be  remembered,  were  limited  to  a  one-handed 
accompaniment.  How  far  he  was  able  to  write 
music  we  do  not,  shall  probably  never  know.  It 
is  probable  that  he  wrote  the  melodies,  manufac- 
tured, by  ear,  some  sort  of  an  accompaniment, 
and  asked  some  friend  to  correct  it. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  his  songs  are  still  full  of 
delicacy,  freshness,  and  melody.  It  is  not  likely 
however,  that  they  will  ever  enjoy  resuscitation  ; 
not  only  are  the  words,  for  the  most  part,  as  bad 
as  such  things  can  be— that  alone  would  in  nowise 

323 


Pierre  Garat 

affect  their  popularity  ;  witness  the  century's 
popular  English  "  ballads  "—but  the  subjects,  and 
the  manner  of  treatment,  are  in  a  taste  that  is  not 
that  of  to-day  nor  likely  to   return. 

His  librettist  as  a  rule  was  anonymous.  Let  us 
hope  the  poet  was  not  himself.  We  are  forced  to 
admit  that  like  many  musicians  his  literary  taste 
was  not  remarkable.  The  worst  fault  of  the  worst 
verses  set  by  Garat  is  a  trick  of  elision,  the  dropping 
of  the  article,  the  result  being  a  sort  of  "  nigger  " 
French  whose  effect  is  entirely  comic.  However, 
there  are  notable  exceptions  ;  and  the  best  of  these 
are  the  work  of  Nepomucene  Lemercier. 

The  most  popular  of  Garat's  own  songs  were, 
of  course,  the  Troubadour  and  the  companion 
Reponse;  Dans  le  prlntemps  de  mes  annees ;  La 
char  me  use  ;  Le  Cid  ;  Le  chant  arabe  ;  Le  premier 
baiser  de  V amour ;  Mile,  de  Lafayette;  Je  Vaime 
tant.  One,  the  Convol  du  pauvre,  suggested  by 
Vigneron's  picture  of  a  pauper's  funeral  followed 
by  a  dog,  is  a  gem  of  false  pathos. 

Certain  songs  of  Garat's  were  not  published, 
nor  did  he  sing  them  in  all  companies.  Among 
them  is  the  Complainte  de  Marie  Antoinette,  the 
words  of  which  are  to  modern  ears  excruciating, 
on  account  of  the  fault  already  mentioned.  Other 
songs  of  a  royalist  tinge  were  Bayard,  Henri  IV 
et  Gabrielle,  and  Belisaire,  this  last  alluding  to  the 
trial  of  Moreau.  It  is  rumoured  that  Napoleon's 
final  disapproval  of  Garat,  and  his  petty  revenge, 

324 


The   Singer  and  Writer  of  Songs 

were  due  to  the  political  colour  of  these  songs. 
Possibly,  however,  Garat  suffered  from  the  fact 
that  his  brother  Maltia  was  a  convinced  Republican. 

A  song  sung  by  Garat  was  assured  of  popularity  ; 
he  was  accordingly  besieged  by  them.  Boieldieu 
wrote  many,  some  of  which  have  survived.  Others, 
full  of  tender,  genuine  feeling,  were  the  work  of 
Albanesi,  who  for  ten  years  was  attached  to  the 
Concerts  SpiritUels  of  the  old  Court.  Later  in  his 
career  he  sang  many  romances  by  Blangini.  Born 
in  Turin  about  the  time  of  Garat's  arrival  in  Paris, 
Blangini  was  chapel-master  to  Pauline  Borghese, 
and,  according  to  his  own  memoirs — he  was  one  of 
those  who  kiss  and  tell,  or  worse,  who  say  that  they 
have  kissed — the  relation  was  eventually  more  inti- 
mate. Her  interest,  or  the  merit  of  his  songs,  or 
both,  brought  him  into  high  favour  with  the  Bona- 
parte family,  and  he  was  for  a  season  musical 
superintendent  at  the  Court  of  Jerome,  King  of 
Westphalia.  On  the  return  of  the  Bourbons,  a 
musical  Vicar  of  Bray,  he  filled  the  same  post  to 
Louis  XVIII. 

Queen  Hortense  wrote  the  words  of  some  of 
Garat's  favourite  songs.  They  were  set  to  music 
by  Plantade  or  Carbonnel.  This  latter,  a  Viennese, 
had  come  to  Paris  at  the  age  of  five,  was  a  pupil 
at  the  Opera  at  the  age  of  nine,  and  entered  the 
Royal  School  of  Singing.  A  professor  of  some 
eminence,  his  songs  were  vastly  popular  ;  the  two 
most  successful,  perhaps,  being  Brigitte  and  Pauvre 

325 


Pierre    Garat 

Lise  a  quinze  aus,  both  sung  by  Garat.  During 
the  Empire  Carbonnel  was  Garat's  usual  accom- 
panist. 

Alvimare  was  another  of  Garat's  favourite  com- 
posers. J e une  troubadour  qui  chante  et  fait  la 
guerre  and  Pret  a  partir  pour  la  terre  africaine 
were  songs  dear  to  our  great -grandmothers.  Son 
of  a  wealthy  family,  he  was  ruined  by  the  Revolu- 
tion. Fortunately  he  played  the  harp  with  ability; 
he  was  harpist  at  the  Opera,  and  gave  lessons  to 
Josephine.  At  the  Restoration  he  recovered  his 
estates,  and  Paris  knew  him  no  more.  You  could 
not  offend  M.  Alvimare  more  deeply,  in  the  peace- 
ful years  of  his  old  age,  when  he  lived  in  retirement 
in  the  town  of  his  birth,  than  by  referring  to  the 
harp,  or  the  Opera,  or  anything  relating  to  music. 

Lastly  we  should  name  Martini.  He  is  immor- 
talized by  one  beautiful  song  that  has  never  been 
forgotten  :— 

"  Plaisirs  (Tumour  ne  duretit  gu'un  moment^ 
Chagrin  d' amour  dure  toufe  la  vie." 

The  rest  lie  in  oblivion,  disturbed  only  by  musical 
scholars,  forgotten  and  outgrown  as  La  Nouvelle 
Heloise,  Delphi  ne,  and  Valerie  are  forgotten. 

Of  his  manner  of  singing  these  romances  some- 
thing has  already  been  said.  The  man  who  could 
assume  and  maintain,  unconsciously  almost,  a  life- 
long pose  of  artificiality,   could  also,  when   his  art 

326 


The  Singer  and  Writer  of  Songs 

called  to  the  resources  of  trained  subconsciousness, 
pour  out  his  ever-fresh  emotions  in  song  of  such 
assured  and  accustomed  technical  perfection  that 
his  whole  attention  could  be  given  to  the  meaning 
of  the  song.  The  result  was  perfect  expression — 
perfect  in  completeness,  in  spontaneity,  in  truth, 
in  poignancy.  The  French  make  use  of  the  expres- 
sion //  dit  un  romance ;  and  the  word  is  just :  a 
perfect  singer  does  truly  speak  his  song,  speaks 
its  meaning  to  the  utmost,  as  naturally  and  easily 
as  in  ordinary  speech.  The  language  lends  itself 
to  a  lightness  and  subtlety  of  articulation,  and  trains 
the  lips  of  those  who  speak  it  to  achieve  those 
qualities,  so  that  the  best  French  song  contains 
the  musical  beauty  of  the  vocal  organ  together 
with  all  the  subtle  beauty  of  perfect  speech.  These 
qualities  are  rarely  met  with  in  the  English  singer, 
whose  voice  is  often  merely  an  instrument  of  music. 
Part  of  Garat's  charm  lay  in  his  supreme  command 
of  diction,  of  speaking  with  perfect  ease  and  com- 
petence through  and  in  his  singing.  This  was  due 
in  some  degree  to  assiduous  training  ;  and  also  to 
the  physical  accident  ;  the  flexible,  slightly  pro- 
jecting lips,  a  little  tilted  at  the  corners,  the  light 
jawbone,  and  the  flexibility  of  the  whole  mask. 

His  incredible  trills,  "  embroideries,"  fiorituri, 
with  which  he  sometimes  electrified  his  hearers, 
were  introduced  only  in  the  more  artificial  of  these 
romances,  and  the  composers  of  the  time  admit 
that   they   were   always   employed   with   justice,    as 

327 


Pierre  Garat 

part  of  the  language  of  his  art.  They  were  never 
inexpressive.  In  singing  great  music  he  took  no 
such  liberties,  but  sang  with  a  large  simplicity 
and  a  passion  that  perhaps  have  never  since  been 
equalled. 

Before  we  conclude  our  consideration  of  Garat 
the  musician,  let  us  examine  his  methods  of 
teaching. 

For  a  generation  he  was  officially  and  actually 
the  first  teacher  of  singing  in  France.  One  might 
almost  say  that  he  founded  a  school  of  singing, 
and  although  the  generation  whose  art  he  formed 
has  itself  passed  away,  his  influence  is  still  extant 
in  the  best  traditions  of  the  operatic  stage. 

Never  a  voluble  person— for  his  art  expressed 
the  whole  man— upon  one  subject  he  could  talk  with 
brilliance.  It  is  said  that  his  friend  Sarrette  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  securing  Garat  for  the  Conserva- 
toire not  on  account  of  his  voice,  but  after  hearing 
him  discuss  his  beloved  art. 

It  was  well  for  Garat.  The  grey  days  were  to 
come  ;  his  art  of  song  and  his  art  of  personal 
gesture  failed  him  ;  but  he  was  saved  the  worst 
bitterness  of  age,  for  teaching  had  by  then  become 
the  work  of  his  life.  He  was  more  and  more 
unhappy  in  society,  in  the  outer  world,  but  in  the 
Conservatoire  he  was  still  Garat,  a  glory  and  a 
legend,  a  man  among  friends  and  worshippers. 

His   lessons   were   a   delight  to   his   pupils.      He 

328 


The  Singer  and   Writer  of  Songs 

spoke,  when  interested,  not  in  the  drawl  of  the 
incroyable,  but  with  all  the  fire  and  eloquence  of 
the  Gascon,  and  his  method  of  teaching,  which 
was  largely  by  example,  was  enlivened  by  snatches 
of  delicious  mimicry,  and  anecdotes  of  the  great 
personages  of  three  Courts  and  the  famous  singers 
of  bygone  days. 

"  Professor  of  perfecting  the  art  of  song  "  until 
1818,  in  that  year  the  Comte  de  Pradel,  Director- 
General  of  the  Household  of  Louis  XVIII,  sent 
Garat  on  a  journey  through  the  South  of  France, 
commissioning  him  to  recruit  any  promising  singers 
he  might  discover.  On  his  return  his  title  was 
changed  to  that  of  "  Professor  of  vocal  music." 
Plantade  and  Lays  were  his  colleagues  ;  the  latter 
an  indifferent  teacher,  while  the  former  was  detested 
by  Garat,  who  seldom  conceived  an  active  dislike. 
Garat  himself,  however,  remained  the  glory  of  the 
Conservatoire. 

His  methods  of  teaching  and  the  principles  which 
he  professed  reveal  something  of  the  man  and  his 
art.  His  chief  method  was  simplicity  itself;  it 
consisted  of  criticism  by  song,  and  here  the  talent 
for  mimicry,  which  as  a  boy  he  had  developed  for 
the  delight  of  his  friends,  proved  to  be  of  the 
greatest  service.  When  one  of  his  pupils,  after 
long  preparation  at  other  hands,  was  given  a 
romance  or  an  aria  to  study,  Garat,  without  looking 
at  the  music,  would  call  upon  him  to  sing  it 
through.       He  would  listen   without   a   word,   and 

329 


Pierre  Garat 

then,  again  without  the  music,  would  himself  sing 
the  air  as  it  should  be  sung,  with  emphasis, 
phrasing,  articulation,  and  quality  of  tone  all  per- 
fect as  only  he  could  make  them.  The  contrast  was 
like  that  between  a  lump  of  clay  and  a  living 
creature.  The  pupil,  bidden  to  sing  again,  would 
this  time  interpret  the  song  with  something  like 
a  tolerable  art.  If  he  were  too  obtuse  the  master 
would  proceed  to  a  gentle  caricature,  so  witty  and 
so  just  as  to  overcome  even  the  victim  with 
laughter. 

He  did  not  uphold  himself  as  the  only  model. 
He  encouraged  his  pupils  to  hear  all  the  great 
singers,  reminding  them  that  it  was  only  by  hearing 
the  great  artists  of  his  day,  and  talking  with  eminent 
musicians,  that  he  himself  had  reached  his  un- 
paralleled position.  He  had  no  patience  with  the 
notion  that  singing  is  merely  a  matter  of  voice. 
The  proper  manner  of  breathing,  the  proper  time 
to  breathe,  the  importance  of  continuing  the  tone 
instead  of  attacking  each  syllable  with  a  sort  of 
bark,  the  method  of  suppressing  asperities  and 
softening  awkward  conjunctions  of  consonants 
without  impairing  the  purity  and  freedom  of  articu- 
lation— all  these  were  points  on  which  he  never 
ceased  to  insist.  Above  all  he  preached  the  neces- 
sity of  hard  work,  of  serious  practice,  of  a  mastery 
of  the  technical  resources  of  vocalization  which  will 
leave  the  singer  free  to  give  his  mind  to  expression, 
which  is,  so  to  speak,  the  perfect  speech  of  song. 

330 


The  Singer  and   Writer  of  Songs 

For  the  sole  end  of  song,  he  declared,  is  dramatic  : 
it  is  to  express  "  the  emotions  of  the  human  soul  at 
a  given  moment,  in  a  given  place."  The  sounds 
produced  by  the  singer  are  simply  a  medium  by 
which  he  expresses  and  communicates  an  idea,  a 
state  of  mind  ;  by  themselves  they  are  valueless  ; 
they  are  justified  only  by  the  communicated 
sensation. 

His  teaching  and  his  conversation  on  musical 
subjects  proved  abundantly  that  his  mind  was  of 
no  ordinary  quality  ;  that  he  was  capable  of  pro- 
found analysis,  sustained  and  logical  thought,  and 
original  observation.  His  principles  may  to-day 
seem  almost  obvious,  but  they  were  conceived,  by 
a  mere  boy,  during  the  feverish  activities  of  youth, 
for  his  self-imposed  training  in  the  closed  chamber 
at  home  was  based  upon  these  very  tenets. 

The  discontinuance  of  his  salary  made  no 
difference  to  his  work  ;  it  was  a  labour  of  love . 
His  enthusiasm  was  inspiring ;  his  pupils  were 
eager  to  please  him,  eager  to  improve,  to  grasp  the 
beauties  of  the  music  they  interpreted,  to  master 
the  means  of  interpretation. 

Cherubini,  Bo'ieldieu,  Mehul  and  others  were  at 
this  period  engrossed  in  the  development  and 
improvement  of  the  French  opera.  Garat  was 
largely  to  be  thanked  for  this  development,  for  it 
was  he  who  trained  the  singers  who  were  to 
interpret  the  new  music  ;  and  his  interest  in  them 
amounted  to  devotion,  for  even  when  age  was  upon 

331 


Pierre  Garat 

him  he  would  accompany  them  to  rehearsals  at  the 
Opera,  be  present  to  cheer  and  advise  them  on  first 
nights,  and  was  the  first  to  congratulate  them  when 
the  curtain  fell. 

Indifference  or  lack  of  ambition  he  could  not 
understand.  How  should  he,  when  the  breath  of 
his  life  was  admiration?  We  remember  Mme. 
Junot's  account  of  his  exasperation  with  the  frigid 
Nourrit,  who  sang  so  languidly  of  his  absent 
mistress.  He  managed,  nevertheless,  to  make  a 
respectable  artist  of  Nourrit,  who  eventually 
appeared  in  Gluck's  Orfeo.  As  the  curtain  fell 
Garat  hurried  on  to  the  stage.  "  After  such  a 
success,"  he  cried,  "  you  can  aspire  to  anything  !  " 
"  I  am  delighted  to  have  pleased  you,"  said  the 
placid  Nourrit,  "  and  I  thank  you  for  your 
encouragement.  But  I  have  no  ambition."  "You 
have  no  ambition  !  "  cried  Garat.  '  Then  what 
are  you  doing  here?" 

Was  it  in  part  the  old  egoism,  the  desire  for 
personal  glory,  to  extend  beyond  the  limit  of  his 
own  days,  for  immortality,  in  short,  that  made  him 
so  eager  for  the  success  of  his  disciples  ?  Perhaps  : 
but  Garat's  egoism  was  not  ignoble,  if  at  times  it 
was  a  little  grotesque.  It  only  amounted  to  this  : 
he  worshipped  life  :  life  in  himself,  as  he  was 
exquisitely  aware  of  self  ;  and  beauty  :  the  beauty 
he  himself  expressed,  since  the  expression  itself 
was  joy. 

332 


The  Singer  and  Writer  of  Songs 

To  English  readers  the  names  of  those  he  trained 
are  to-day  but  names :  Ponchard,  Levasseur, 
Desperamons,  Roland :  Mmes.  Duret,  Dorlise, 
Hallinger,  Philis,  Branchu  :  it  is  idle  to  extend  the 
list.  One  pupil,  however,  we  may  justly  mention  : 
Fabry  Garat,  his  youngest  brother,  and  at  the  end 
his  most  faithful  companion. 

Born  in  1775,  Fabry,  like  his  brother,  had  a 
tenor  voice  of  beautiful  quality,  which  indeed 
recalled  that  of  Pierre.  His  training,  however, 
was  interrupted.  In  very  early  childhood  he  was 
taught  by  Garat,  who,  as  he  mastered  his  art, 
sought  to  pass  on  the  knowledge  acquired  ;  but 
he  was  only  eight  years  old  when  the  latter  left  for 
Paris,  and  on  the  outbreak  of  war  he  was  enrolled 
as  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution.  He  left  the  army  in 
1800,  at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  returned  to  Bor- 
deaux, and  began  to  study  music  under  Mengozzi, 
a  singer,  and  Ferrari.  Proceeding  to  Paris,  he 
entered  the  class  of  Gerard,  a  professor  of  the 
Italian  school,  who  prepared  the  students  of  the 
Conservatoire  for  Garat.  Fabry  also  had  the 
benefit  of  his  brother's  advice,  with  the  result  that 
he  became  an  admirable  singer,  though  technically 
a  little  defective.  Hearing  the  brothers  sing 
together,  the  similarity  of  their  voices,  and  the 
difference,  were  at  once  apparent. 

He  had  the  same  beautifully  expressive  and 
limpid  articulation,  and  as  a  singer  of  romances 
won  a  name  of  his  own.     Even  less  of  a  musician 

333 


Pierre  Garat 

than  his  brother,  he  too  wrote  romances,  which  were 
published  in  eight  collections  ;  and  at  one  period 
he  even  gave  lessons. 

For  a  time  he  was  employed  in  the  Ministry  of 
Finances,  and  was  sent  to  Flanders  ;  but  on  the 
partition  of  Belgium  was  forced  to  adopt  the 
musical   profession   for   a   living. 

For  many  years  he  toured  through  the  provinces, 
giving  concerts,  and  if  his  talents  were  eclipsed 
by  his  brother's  genius,  none  the  less  the  name  of 
Garat  was  a  precious  financial  asset. 

After  a  time  he  returned  to  his  old  occupation 
as  sub-director  of  the  department  of  indirect  taxa- 
tion. Eventually  he  was  sent  to  Vaugirard  as 
collector  of  taxes.  Unlike  his  famous  brother,  he 
lived  to  an  advanced  age,  and  his  voice  was  almost 
as  long-lived  as  himself.1  He  it  was,  as  we  shall 
see,  who  tended  Garat  in  his  last  melancholy  days. 
He  himself  died  an  old  man,  leaving  a  son  who 
became  sub -prefect  of  Dax. 

Here  we  may  most   fittingly  refer  to   the   third 

1  Lafond  quotes  an  anecdote  which  is  quite  irrelevant,  but 
amusing  enough  to  translate.  At  Vaugirard  Fabry  used  to  give 
weekly  dinners,  at  which  Jules  Garat,  a  nephew,  a  physician  at 
Bordeaux,  was  a  frequent  guest.  At  the  first  of  these  dinners 
he  met  a  brisk,  vigorous,  little  old  man,  the  famous  surgeon 
Soubervielle  who,  in  spite  of  sixty  years  in  Paris,  had  a  Gascon 
accent  of  the  good  old  flavour,  which  amazed  even  the  young 
provincial  fresh  from  Gascony.  The  conversation  turned  upon 
Robespierre.  The  English  of  the  following  may  be  presumed  to 
give  some  idea  of  the  rusticity  of  the  old  surgeon's  accent :  "  Oh, 
yoong  mon  !    Roubespierry  was  ma  friend,  an'  it  was  a  glory  an 

334 


The  Singer  and  Writer  of  Songs 

brother  :  Francisque,  a  lover  and  amateur  of  letters, 
and  a  singer  also.  He  was  six  years  the  junior  of 
our  hero.  He  joined  the  army  of  the  Sambre-e,t- 
Meuse  as  a  volunteer,  but  in  17  97,  when 
Dominique-Joseph  was  sent  as  ambassador  to 
Naples,  he  accompanied  his  uncle  as  secretary. 
On  his  return  to  France  he  entered  the  administra- 
tion of  the  customs,  eventually  being  stationed  at 
Bordeaux,  where  he  died  at  the  age  of  eighty-two. 

Garat  had  but  one  sister :  Theodore,  god- 
daughter of  his  aunt,  the  superior  of  a  convent  in 
Bayonne.  This  sister  married  a  M.  Lubbert,  by 
whom  she  had  two  sons  :  one  of  them,  a  lover  of 
music,  and  a  friend  of  Fabry  Garat,  was  the 
latter's  companion  on  his  visits  to  the  singer  in 
the  days  of  which  we  have  yet  to  speak. 

It  will  be  seen  that  Garat  was  the  sole  member 
of  his  family  to  be  a  reactionary.  That,  at  least,, 
is  hardly  the  term  ;  he  welcomed  the  Revolution, 
but  the  mob  he  could  only  hold  in  abhorrence.  The 
man  whose  respect— we  might  say  love  and  admira- 

honour  to  me ;  I  said  so  to  Mossieu  day  Lamartine  an'  he  put  it  in  his 
worrk  on  the  Girondins."  "  But  Robespierre,"  ventures  the  student, 
"  was  a  scoundrel;  he  drenched  himself  with  blood  ! "  "  Oh,  yoong 
mon,  a  mon  of  bloud !  He,  the  maist  upright  o'  men !  A  brave 
mon  !  A  mon  o'  bloud,  never  !  Now  hear  me :  Henriot,  his  friend, 
a  good  citizen,  brave  and  full  o'  convictions,  he  went  to  Roubespierry 
and  he  tould  him  :  '  To  finish  'em  at  one  single  blow,  ye  must  cut 
off  a  hundred  thousand  heads.'  What  did  Roubespierry?  He 
guillotined  his  friend  Henriot  I  An'  after  that  ye  tell  me  he  was 
a  mon  o'  bloud  !  "  Truly  a  delightful  example  of  the  "  retrospective 
illusion  " ! 

335 


Pierre  Garat 

tion— for  his  own  person,  whose  every  gesture  and 
action  is  considered  and  controlled,  whose  every 
utterance  is  a  striving  after  beauty,  can  hardly 
regard  as  a  brother,  still  less  as  a  divinely- 
appointed  ruler,  the  undisciplined  roaring  dema- 
gogue, intoxicated  with  a  silly  phrase,  whose  aspect 
and  voice  are  an  offence,  and  who  reeks  to  heaven 
of  dirt  and  sweat.  Respect  of  self  and  arrogant 
self-love  are  as  the  poles  apart.  Moreover,  Garat 
was  never  ungrateful,  and  the  kindness  of  Marie 
Antoinette  and  many  of  her  Court  was  a  gracious 
memory  that  was  with  him  to  the  last.  For  their 
destroyers  he  could  feel  only  hatred  ;  he  shrank, 
therefore,  from  regarding  them ;  if  his  political 
sympathies  were  negligible,  it  was  because  by  an 
act  of  will  he  avoided  thought  upon  a  painful 
subject. 


336 


CHAPTER    XVI 
THE   RESTORATION— THE   END 

The  Restoration — Old  friends — Garat's  journey  to  the  South — The 
approach  of  age — The  old  age  of  the  beau — The  tragedy  of 
the  old  singer — The  surrender  to  Time — Last  years — Gerard  ; 
Kalbrenner— The  Conservatoire — The  desire  of  immortality — 
Mile.  Duchamp — Why  the  aged  artist  so  often  marries  a  pupil — 
Garat's  hopes — The  tragedy  of  their  non-fulfilment — Retirement 
— The  yellow  boots — The  last  illness — Old  friends — Lubbert 
and  Fabry  Garat — Dreams  of  past  greatness — He  sings  in 
silence — Death  of  Garat — Cherubini — Memorial  performance 
at  the  Opera — A  tribute. 

It  may  be  imagined  that  the  fall  of  Napoleon 
was  by  no  means  disagreeable  to  Garat.  As  a 
Royalist  member  of  a  moderate  republican  family, 
he  was  not  regarded  with  favour  by  the  magnates 
of  the  Empire ;  and  his  salary,  no  negligible 
resource  now  that  he  no  longer  sang  nightly  for 
princely  fees,  was  restored  at  the  coming  of  the 
Bourbons. 

For  other  and  less  interested  reasons,  however, 
the  return  of  the  Bourbons  meant  much  to  him. 
In  the  storm  and  stress  of  the  later  Empire,  amid 
a  new  barbarian  generation,  who  regarded  a  frock- 
coat  and  white  breeches,   a  coachman's   redingote 

337  Y 


Pierre  Garat 

and  high  top-boots  as  a  sufficient  costume  for  a 
gentleman,  his  position  was  no  longer  quite  what 
it  had  been.  People  still  whispered  his  name  as 
he  passed,  but  it  was  not  always  with  admiration. 

The  return  of  the  Bourbons  was  a  fugitive 
renewal  of  youth.  Louis  XVIII  he  had  never 
known  intimately ;  but  Artois  had  been  almost 
friend  as  well  as  patron  ;  and  with  the  Bourbons 
came  a  host  of  faithful  emigres  in  whom  absence 
had  not  effaced  the  memory  of  the  Orpheus  from 
the  Midi.  Thirty-five  years  or  more  had  been  the 
length  of  their  exile,  and  few  were  improved,  either 
in  quality  or  in  manner,  but  it  probably  took  time 
to  make  the  discovery  ;  and  in  the  meanwhile  new 
salons  were  opening,  old  stories  were  being  retold, 
and  friends  who  parted  as  youths  were  re-exploring 
one  another's  characters.  And  in  the  new  salons, 
as  in  the  old,  sang  Garat,  the  human  nightingale, 
eternally  youthful,  and  he  sang  the  old  songs. 

It  was  not  for  long.  Those  whom  the  gods 
have  loved  should  die  young.  They  pay  a  price 
for  the  divine  favour,  and  the  payment  leaves  them 
poor  in  old  age.  Garat  was  perhaps  endowed  at 
birth  with  less  than  a  full  measure  of  vitality ; 
twice  during  his  youth  his  constitution  showed  signs 
of  failure  ;  and  he  lived  at  high  pressure.  We 
need  not  suppose  him,  as  some  have  done,  a  victim 
of  dissipation  ;   he  was  intensely  fastidious,  he  loved 

333 


The  Restoration — The  End 

and  respected  himself,  and,  above  all,  he  loved 
his  art,  and  knew  only  too  well  how  it  must  suffer 
by  any  imprudence.  He  was  a  polygamist  rather 
than  a  rake,  but  a  serial,  not  a  simultaneous 
polygamist ;  and  mere  polygamy  never  killed 
any  one. 

Man  the  machine  has  a  certain  maximum  life  ; 
if  his  pace  is  rapid,  the  journey  is  quickly  over. 
We  cannot  consider  Garat's  life,  and,  above  all, 
his  art,  without  realizing  that  here  was  a  man 
who  lived  intensely  at  every  moment  of  the  day. 
There  were  no  periods  of  lethargy,  of  indifference  ; 
the  exquisite  was  a  restrained  enthusiast ;  the  artist 
was  an  enthusiast  in  action.  There  were  no  periods 
of  repose.  So  it  was  that  at  an  age  when  the 
average  man  tells  himself,  a  little  wistfully,  that 
he  is  only  in  his  prime  our  singer  found  himself 
failing. 

At  first  the  difference  was  imperceptible.  Then 
the  poison  of  age  worked  more  swiftly  :  lining  the 
cheeks,  thinning  the  hair,  stiffening  the  limbs, 
veiling  the  voice.  For  nearly  fifty  years  he  had 
been  Garat,  the  irresistible,  the  ever-young.  He 
still  contrived  to  be  Garat ;  but  it  was  with  an 
effort  ;  the  resources  of  the  toilet  were  invoked 
to  hide  the  ravages  of  time. 

The  beau  should  never  grow  old,  nor  the  great 
singer.  The  beau  in  his  youth  is  a  beautiful  animal, 
whose  gestures  and  raiment  are  equally  beautiful. 
In  his   age   beauty   of   person   and   movement   fail 

339 


Pierre  Garat 

him,  and  what  was  beauty  of  adornment  becomes 
the  jest  of  fools. 

The  beau  loves  himself,  as  a  woman  may,  who 
knows  the  hour  ripe  for  the  gift  of  her  beauty. 
The  beau's  love  is  the  world.  He  longs  to  give 
himself,  that  he  may  receive  approval.  But  apart 
from  the  world,  he  loves  himself  for  his  own  sake. 
The  skin  like  satin  ;  the  strong,  comely  limbs  ; 
the  shapely  frame,  beautiful  as  a  racehorse  or  a 
statue  ;  the  clear  eye,  the  sober  nerves,  the  fresh- 
ness of  ever-restored  youth  :  these  are  things  to 
love,  to  adorn,  to  use  for  the  joy  of  others.  But 
who  shall  love  himself  when  his  skin  is  harsh  and 
wrinkled,  his  limbs  stiff  and  shrunken,  his  teeth 
broken,  his  cheeks  furrowed,  his  eyes  dim?  The 
body  that  was  his  delight  has  become  his  penance  ; 
he  cannot  offer  it  to  others  ;  he  is  humiliated  ;  he 
longs  to  hide  like  a  stricken  beast. 

And  the  great  singer  !  He  is  used  to  the  joy 
of  perfect  physical  performance,  of  mental  and 
physical  competence.  A  few  beautiful  words  and 
phrases  of  music  inspire  him  with  living  emotion. 
He  knows  the  joy  of  expression  ;  the  rich  blood 
coursing  generously,  bathing  the  nerves  in  delight ; 
the  thrill  in  the  throat  and  breast  that  tells  of 
perfect  production  ;  the  joy  of  song,  unforced  as 
a  bird's,  that  while  it  lasts  is  his  very  self,  the 
expression  of  body  and  soul ;  and  the  heady  joy 
of  popularity,  of  being  the  centre  of  panic  delight, 

340 


The  Restoration — The  End 

the   focus   of   a   storm   of   aesthetic   and   emotional 
rapture . 

Now  it  was  all  over.  The  old  age  of  the  singer 
is  hard  to  bear,  for  it  is  not  his  skill  that  forsakes 
him  :  it  is  the  very  instrument  upon  which  he  plays 
that  decays  and  fails  him.  Not  only  in  singing, 
but  all  his  life  he  knows  the  sweets  of  popularity. 
He  may  tell  himself  that  men  are  mostly  fools  ; 
that  few  men  think  of  him  at  all,  and  none  for 
more  than  a  few  moments.  But  such  words  are 
meaningless.  What  matters  is  that  wherever  he 
goes  all  the  world,  as  he  comes  into  touch  with 
it,  regards  him  with  a  thrill  of  gratitude,  interest, 
envy,  admiration.  The  springs  of  joy  are  deep 
as  the  springs  of  life.  Before  man  was  man 
approval,  popularity,  the  respect  of  the  head  or 
tribe  meant  security  ;  the  surcease  of  a  thousand 
harrowing  fears  and  a  vast  advantage  in  the  eternal 
struggle.  As  long  as  man  is  man  popularity  will 
delight  him,  in  spite  of  all  his  wisdom,  wrapping 
him  in  a  warm  glow  of  spiritual  content,  like  the 
consciousness  of  salvation,  or  a  perfectly  fitting 
coat. 

These  joys  our  singer  must  now  surrender.  It 
was  not  a  dignified  surrender.  The  vivid,  sleepy, 
impertinent  face  with  the  olive  flush  of  youth  had 
been  arresting,  pleasing,  lovable  in  the  eyes  of 
a  thousand  women  ;  and  it  had  harmonized,  had 
"  gone  "   with   the  fantastic   style  of   clothing  that 

34i 


Pierre  Garat 

was  the  expression  of  an  exuberant  age.  Now, 
when  all  men  dressed  like  soldiers  or  grooms, 
another  type  of  countenance  was  needful.  Had 
his  features  been  stern,  dignified,  reposeful,  with 
a  basis  of  "  beautiful  bone,"  he  might  have  played 
the  part  of  the  "  grand  old  man  "  ;  as  it  was 
he  foresaw  that  Garat  the  octogenarian,  should 
there  ever  be  such  a  person,  would  be  referred 
to  as  "  that  queer  little  old  fellow,"  the  "  funny 
little  old  man." 

He  sought  to  fight  the  years  with  the  aid  of  his 
tailor.  His  costumes,  in  a  sober  age,  grew  more 
brilliant  in  hue,  more  eccentric  in  cut.  His  tiny 
foot  at  least  was  left  him,  and  his  slender  han,ds. 
He  went  gay  as  a  humming-bird,  with  little, 
mincing  steps,  an  apostle  of  the  cult  of  the  person 
in  a  gross  material  age.  He  certainly  caught  the 
eye  ;  people  turned  in  the  street  to  watch  him. 
The  cry  was  still  "  That's  Garat  !  "  but  the  worship 
was  not  the  same.  He  was  something  of  a  joke 
as  well  as  a  celebrity. 

He  did  not  at  first  become  morose ;  only  a 
little  hurt  ;  as  one  the  gods  have  deserted,  he 
knows  not  why.  The  result  on  his  life  was  that 
he  no  longer  sought  to  conquer  new  fields  ;  he 
even  withdrew  from  fields  already  won.  He  was 
to  be  seen,  in  those  days,  only  in  the  salons  of 
those  who  had  known  him  long. 

He  still  sang — if  sufficiently  pressed.     The  power 

342 


The  Restoration — The  End 

of  the  voice  was  gone  ;  but  the  perfect  art,  that 
was  the  summary  of  a  lifetime  of  thought  and 
experience  and  labour,  was  still  untouched  ;  was 
more  supreme  than  ever. 

One  of  the  last  houses  he  frequented  was  that 
of  Gerard,  the  painter,  a  friend  of  long  standing, 
created  baron  by  Louis  XVIII.  There  he  met 
all  the  leading  figures  of  the  worlds  of  politics, 
letters,  art,  music,  and  science  ;  there,  perhaps, 
his  voice  was  heard  for  the  last  time.  What 
memories  it  must  have  awakened  in  that  company 
of  ageing  men  :  successful,  solidly  established  in 
a  time  of  peace  ;  what  vistas  of  storm  and  hatred 
and  terror,  what  memories  of  brighter  worlds 
submerged  ! 

As  the  art  of  gesture  and  raiment  began  to 
fail  him  the  art  of  music  became  more  than  ever 
dear.  He  was  often  to  be  met  with  in  the  studio 
of  Kalbrenner,  the  violinist,  an  old  professional 
comrade,  when  the  company  was  one  of  artists. 

But  his  best  hours  were  passed  at  the  Con- 
servatoire. One  art  had  not  betrayed  him:  as 
a  teacher  he  was  as  great  as  ever.  And  here,  at 
least,  in  this  world  of  artists  and  bourgeois,  he 
was  still  Garat,  the  unique  and  incomparable,  the 
perfect  artist,  the  exquisite,  the  legendary  orna- 
ment of  Courts,  the  lover  of  great  ladies.  He 
could  still  dress  of  a  morning,  even  though  his 
limbs  were  stiff,  with  a  little  thrill  of  anticipatory 

343 


Pierre  Garat 

pleasure  ;  there  was  still  the  little  sensation  when 
he  entered — always  half  an  hour  late — still  gay, 
with  a  twinkling  eye  and  a  masterly  langour, 
which  soon  gave  way  to  the  competent  air  of  a 
man  who  has  come  into  his  kingdom.  Here  the 
glances  of  pretty  women  still  centred  upon  his 
person  ;  there  was  no  criticism  here,  but  a  genuine 
hero-worship,  and  now  and  again  a  glance,  a  blush, 
that  fired  the  blood  for  a  moment  and  made  him 
forget  the  doom  of  age. 

In  this  atmosphere  of  youth  he  breathed  a 
familiar  air;  for  his  heart  was  still  that  of  a  boy. 
And  the  consultations  with  his  colleagues,  the  witty 
"  score  "  off  his  pet  enemy,  and  the  suppressed 
chuckle  that  followed,  the  talk  of  old  days  when 
the  visiting  staff  dropped  in  ;  the  presence  of  tried 
comrades,  fellow-witnesses  of  the  drama  of  the 
past ;  and  the  lessons,  the  sense  of  power  that 
came  with  talking  of  his  beloved  art ;  the  pleasure 
felt  in  a  just  phrase,  a  happy  illustration.  And 
at  the  Opera  he  was  still  Garat ;  of  an  evening 
on  first  nights,  when  the  singers  waited  for  his 
verdict  ;  or  in  the  daytime,  on  the  great  empty 
stage,  at  rehearsal,  when  the  company  would  hang 
upon  his  lips  .  .  .  and  now  and  again  he  would 
smg  a  few  bars,  and  there  would  be  a  little  stir 
of  half -suppressed  applause  ;  the  power  was  gone, 
the  tone  a  little  veiled,  but  the  phrasing,  the  plot, 
emphasis,  the  perfect  articulation  .  .  .  there  again 
he  was  still  Garat. 

344 


The  Restoration — The  End 

But  at  home,  in  his  lonely  rooms,  he  had  long 
known  evil  hours. 

"When  forty  winters  shall  besiege  thy  brow.  .  .  ." 

It  was  then  that  the  truth  faced  him  and  would 
not  be  cajoled  ;  his  life  was  ebbing  relentlessly, 
ever  faster,  and  in  a  little  he,  Garat,  to  whom  life 
and  joy  had  been  so  dear,  he,  who  could  give 
the  world  such  beauty,  whose  cunning  of  beautiful 
creation  was  still  untouched,  would  go  down  into 
the  darkness  and  would  not  be.    .    .    . 

Was  his  marriage — if  we  may  call  it  that — 
brought  about  by  the  desire,  unconscious  or  avowed, 
for  children?  Probably  not.  The  desire  of  the 
individual  to  continue  upon  the  earth  finds  its 
general  expression  in  the  paternal  instinct  ;  for 
the  childless,  or  those  too  egotistical  to  find  a 
satisfaction  in  vicarious  life,  there  are  the  con- 
solations of  religion.  It  is  likely  that  to  Garat 
the  egoist  the  former  consolation  did  not  occur  ; 
the  latter  were  not  for  him.  Had  his  children 
been  beneath  the  same  roof  with  him,  had  he  occu- 
pied himself  with  their  future,  he  might  have  found 
such  consolation  ;  but  his  children  were  hardly 
his  own ;  of  their  relations  with  him  we  know 
nothing,  except  that  his  daughter  worshipped  his 
memory.  Was  it  as  a  delightful  father  or  as  a 
legend  of  social  success  ? 

Most  of  all   perhaps,   even  more   than   the  loss 

345 


Pierre  Garat 

of  youth,  of  physical  competence,  did  he  feel  the 
loss  of  glory,  admiration,  adulation. 

He  found  it  still,  in  a  measure,  among  his  pupils. 
Girls  of  a  certain  age  keenly  interested  in  an  art  are 
given  to  a  hero-worship  that  ignores  the  facts  of 
age.  Lovers  of  love,  they  may  easily  become  lovers 
of  the  object  of  adoration.  History  assures  us 
that  Garat  was  irresistible  ;  such  as  these  would 
find  him  so  when  for  women  of  the  larger  world 
the  magic  had  faded.  Did  he  fall  genuinely  in 
love,  as  an  ageing  man  will,  with  comely  youth 
and  strength  ?  Did  he  design,  deliberately,  as  so 
many  old  singers  have  done,  to  secure  for  himself 
the  worship  which  was  deserting  him?  Did  he 
seek  a  companion  to  cheer  the  desolate  home  of 
a  man  whose  activities  were  failing?  Did  he,  as 
he  had  so  often  done  before,  half  in  gratitude 
or  half  in  vanity,  respond  to  the  passion  that  he 
had  not  intended  to  awaken  ? 

Or  did  he  seek  a  temporary  immortality  in  the 
art  of  one  favourite  pupil,  for  whom  he  would 
expend  all  his  wealth  of  taste  and  experience  and 
knowledge  ?  Whatever  the  motives,  the  fact 
amounted  to  this  :  that  many  years  before  his 
death,  before  the  fight  with  age  had  defeated 
him,  while  the  lover  was  still  irresistible,  he  took 
to  live  with  him  a  beautiful  pupil,  a  girl  with  a 
grave,  lovely  voice,  whom  he  nicknamed  Madame 
Contralto . 

He    had    a    companion    in    his    home  ;    he    had 

346 


The  Restoration — The  End 

admiration  ;  there  was  one  person  in  whose  eyes 
he  would  always  be   wonderful.1 

Then,  gradually,  his  egoism  seized  upon  her. 
His  own  voice  was  failing  ;  hers  would  outlast  his 
life.  It  was  to  be  a  marvellous  voice  :  the  soul 
of  Garat  in  the  body  of  a  young  and  beautiful 
woman.  He  foresaw  a  new  conquest  of  the  old 
scenes  of  triumph  ;  he  saw  himself,  ageing  but  not 
ill-content,  leading  her  from  salon  to  salon,  or 
watching  her  debut  before  the  brilliant  audience  of 
the  Opera  ;  recognizing,  in  every  limpid  syllable, 
every  liquid  note,  every  phrase  and  quiver  of  the 
song,  his  own  training,  his  own  tastes,  his  own 
personality.  She  should  be  his  instrument,  his 
voice  ;  and  when  at  last  the  pageant  he  loved  so 
well  was  over,  for  him,  his  voice  would  still  be 
on  the  earth,  in  Paris,  creating  beauty,  expressing 
that  inner  self  for  whose  continued  existence  he 
fought  as  dying  men  fight  for  breath. 

He  loved  her  with  the  jealous  passion  of  an  age- 
ing man  ;  with  the  hungry  worship  of  youth,  fresh- 
ness, and  beauty  that  the  young  cannot  understand, 
because  such  treasures  are  to  them  familiar  things. 
He  loved  her  with  the  tenderness  of  a  childless 
man,  for  his  own  children  were  in  another's  care. 

1  His  family  denied  the  marriage ;  the  girl  herself  passed  as  his 
widow.  The  actual  ceremony  of  marriage  was  still  not  very  usual 
in  theatrical  circles,  where  it  had  so  long  been  forbidden  by  law. 
Both  Garat  and  Mile.  Duchamp  would  have  regarded  the  civil 
ceremony  with  indifference. 

347 


Pierre  Garat 

He  loved  her  with  the  jealous  criticism  of  a 
man  whose  great  possessions  are  to  pass  to  an 
heir. 

He  knew  himself  failing  ;  he  knew,  none  better, 
the  frailty  of  woman,  the  audacity  of  man.  He 
feared  rivals  ;  the  loss  of  his  chance  of  renewed 
glory  ;  the  loss  perhaps  of  a  precious  investment, 
for  she  would  earn  great  sums,  and  he  would  live, 
as  of  old,  like  a  prince.  So  many  would  gladly 
steal  her,  for  her  beauty  or  her  voice  !  So  he 
was  chary  of  letting  her  go  forth,  except  for  her 
health  ;  then  she  must  be  wrapped  warmly,  and 
go  plainly  clad,  so  as  to  attract  no  attention  ; 
muffled  up  like  I  know  not  what,"  on  high 
pattens,  lest  her  feet  be  wetted  by  the  gutter  ;  and 
if  she  went  out  in  the  rain  his  anxiety  broke  out 
in  angry  scolding. 

And  the  training?  Poor  Mme.  Contralto  !  The 
time  was  so  short — not  a  day,  not  an  hour  must  be 
lost.  Scales,  eternal  scales  ;  early  rising,  for  the 
old  sleep  so  little  ;  exercises,  single  notes,  intervals, 
"  attacks,"  "  glides,"  "  continued  tones  "  ;  it  was 
a  very  treadmill  of  art  ! 

Half-child,  half-wife,  his  hope  for  the  future, 
the  continuation  of  his  dear  self,  his  hope  of  im- 
mortality, the  hope  of  a  drowning  man  :  judge  if 
she  was  dear  ! — if  dear  as  a  conception  rather  than 
as  a  person.  Yet  it  was  whispered,  and  then 
spoken,  for  the  fact  was  at  length  unconcealed, 
that  a  jealous,  loving  severity  had  become  some- 

348 


The  Restoration — The   End 

thing  worse.  He  "  maltreated  "  her,  so  one 
biographer  says  ;  one,  it  is  true,  who  did  not  love 
his  subject.  At  all  events,  the  domestic  atmo- 
sphere was  at  length  variable,  even  stormy. 

Poor  pretty  Mme.  Contralto  had  quarrelled  with 
her  people,  offended  her  friends,  given  up  the 
adornments  and  delights  of  youth,  to  devote  her- 
self to  her  hero.  She  did  not  complain  ;  but  at 
length  Fabry  Garat  felt  ashamed  for  his  brother's 
sake.  He  spoke  to  Jal  :  "You  have  influence 
with  my  brother ;  try  to  make  him  ashamed  of 
his  severity  to  the  poor  woman." 

Jal  waited  his  time,  and  one  day  spoke  ;  they 
were  walking  on  the  boulevards  ;  Garat  with  his 
little,  mincing  steps,  his  half -shut  eyes  alert  to  see 
who  marked  him.  Why,  ventured  the  historian  of 
the  Navy,  was  Garat  so  severe  with  the  good  and 
gentle  Mme.  Contralto?  "After  a  long  silence, 
and  a  hesitation  which  betrayed  the  shame  he  felt 
for  his  conduct,  he  said,  in  a  low  voice,  '  The 
unhappy  creature  !  She  is  growing  deaf  and  is 
singing  out  of  tune  !  '  " 

Deaf  !  Out  of  tune  !  The  obtuse  and  worthy 
Jal  was  disgusted.     As  if  that  was  an  excuse  ! 

Poor  butterfly,  by  the  cruelty  of  the  gods  a 
chrysalis  once  more,  and  denied  his  metamor- 
phosis !  His  conduct  was  not  chivalrous,  not 
dignified,  not  generous  ;  but  how  terribly  human  ! 
If  we   realize   what  a   tragedy   it   was   to   him,   we 

349 


Pierre  Garat 

may     ascribe    it     to     his     credit     that     he     never 
complained  until   Jal   pressed  him. 

She  was  beautiful  still,  but  he  had  seen  and  loved 
so  much  beauty.  She  was  childless  ;  was  it  an 
added  grief  ?  She  was  kind ;  but  there  are  ills 
that  kindness  can  hafdly  solace. 

He  grew  a  little  morose,  they  say ;  he  went 
out  seldom,  save  to  his  beloved  work.   * 

Jal  gives  us  another  picture.  It  was  a  year 
before  his  death.  He  was  in  his  fifty-ninth  year, 
but  an  old  man.  The  last  phase  had  come  quite 
suddenly  ;  for  a  time  he  fought  gallantly ;  but 
now  he  fought  no  more.     He  was  old. 

It  was  a  beautiful  afternoon  in  April.  Jal  had 
called  for  Garat,  and  they  were  strolling  on  the 
Bouvelard  des  Varices.  They  met  Habeneck  the 
elder  and  Kreutzer,  the  old  violinist.  The  four 
men  stopped  for  a  chat.  Garat,  however,  fell  silent, 
staring  at  the  ground  between  his  feet,  only  raising 
his  eyes,  now  and  again,  to  give  a  furtive  glance 
at  the  passers-by.  The  others  sought  to  rally  him, 
but  to  no  effect.  Silence  among  Parisians  is  a 
crime  ;  Kreutzer  and  Habeneck,  a  thought 
offended,  went  their  way.  Jal  gave  the  singer 
a  shake :  'I  shall  leave  you,  too,  if  you  don't 
tell  me  what  is  the  matter  with  you.  Are  you  ill? 
Shall  I  see  you  home  ?  You  look  worried  ;  what 
is  troubling  you  ?  Are  you  in  trouble  ?  Come, 
what  is  it  ?  " 

35o 


The  Restoration — The  End 

Garat  raised  his  head.  He  pointed  at  the 
passing  crowd.  "  Twenty  years  ago  they  would 
never  have  passed  me  without  remarking  that  I 
am  wearing  yellow  boots  to-day  !  Ungrateful 
creatures  !  " 

"  Ungrateful  !  "  says  Jal  the  unsympathetic. 
"  Sublime  utterance  of  an  old  coquette  who  once 
set  the  fashion,  and  is  now  forsaken  !  "  l 

Poor  butterfly  !  He  was  not  rich,  in  those  days. 
He  had  denied  himself,  perhaps,  to  buy  these  yellow 
boots  ;  paid  several  visits  to  the  ladies'  cobbler  ; 
given  precise  instructions ;  promised  himself  a 
small  sensation.  And  he  stood,  half -sulky,  half- 
resentful,  his  April  day  spoiled ;  like  a  child 
punished  and  ignored,  it  does  not  know  why. 
So  might  a  king  in  exile  feel,  for  whom  trains 
and  trams  do  not  tarry,  and  whom  no  man 
salutes. 

The  end  came  swiftly.  He  was  not  ill  ;  he  was 
old,  and  the  mainspring  of  life  was  broken.  He 
went  abroad  no  more. 

Towards  the  end  he  seems  to  have  accepted  his 
fate  like  the  gallant  man  he  really  was.  We  hear 
no  more  of  his  moroseness.  He  received  all  who 
came  to  see  him  :  friends  and  relatives  ;  and  he 
was  by  no  means  forsaken. 

1  His  costume  on  this  occasion  comprised  "a  green  coat, 
under  an  overcoat  of  chestnut  brown,  pantaloons  of  that  red 
cloth  which  jockeys  wear,  and  boots  of  a  soft  leather,  yellow 
in  hue." 

351 


Pierre  Garat 

Most  frequent  of  all  his  callers  was  his  nephew, 
Emile  Lubbert,  a  lover  of  music  and  a  lively  talker. 
He  encouraged  the  old  man  to  speak  of  his  pupils, 
especially  of  Ponchard,  who  was  singing  some  of 
Lubbert's  compositions  as  well  as  Garat's,  and  of 
Mme.  Rigaut-Pallard,  "  of  whom  Garat  himself  had 
spoken  as  having  a  talent  for  which  no  perfection 
or  beauty  of  song  was  too  difficult  of  attainment  "  ; 
of  Garat's  compositions,  and  who  was  singing 
them  ;  of  his  past  triumphs,  and  the  sad,  good 
days  of  old  when  a  queen  was  his  friend. 

Fabry  Garat  also  was  an  assiduous  caller  ;  and 
the  musical  gossip  of  Paris  would  always  cheer  the 
failing  artist. 

Alone,  with  his  Mme.  Contralto,  who  served 
him  tenderly,  but  alas  !  was  growing  deaf,  he 
would  sit  for  hours,  half-reclining,  dreaming  of 
his  past  glories.  The  world  served  other  gods,  his 
altar  was  deserted  ;  a  solitary  worshipper,  he  him- 
self burned  incense  before  it.  The  old  days  on 
the  hills  of  Ustaritz  ;  the  nights  beneath  the 
balconies  of  Bayonne  or  the  trees  of  Bordeaux  ; 
the  long  journey  to  Paris  ;  the  meeting  with  the, 
beautiful  Dugazon  ;  the  delirium  of  first  love  ;  the 
wonderful  day  when  six  horses  led  him  in  triumph 
to  Versailles  ;  the  colour  and  the  sunlight  and  the 
pathos  of  the  old  forgotten  France  ;  the  days  among 
the  sunlit  groves  of  the  Trianon,  where  a  white- 
robed    queen    made    merry    with    her    ladies  ;    the 

352 


The   Restoration — The  End 

cloud  of  the  Terror,  and  the  renewal  of  life  ;  the 
strange  carnival  of  Paris  ;  and  the  pride  of  utter 
success  when  Paris  owned  him  king  of  modes  and 
song.  .  .  .  Dominique-Joseph  tells  us  that  a 
friend  one  day  asked  him  if  when  he  was  alone* 
he  still  felt  an  interest  in  music.  "  Always."  said 
Garat.  "  Can  you  recall  it  very  clearly?  "  "  Better 
than  ever."  "  Do  you  ever  try  to  sing?  "  "  No  ; 
I  know  that  is  impossible  ;  but  my  memory  sings 
in  silence,  and  I  never  sang  better."  "  He  sang 
in  silence  when  his  voice  was  lost ;  when  he  was 
soon  to  lose  speech  and  life  itself." 

He  died  of  old  age,  in  his  sixty-first  year,  he 
who  had  lived  so  fully.  He  did  not  suffer;  death 
was  to  him  the  final  ebbing  of  departing  life.  At 
three  o'clock  of  the  morning,  when  the  tide  of 
life  runs  lowest,  on  the  first  day  of  March,  he 
breathed  his  last  ;  it  was  the  painless  advent  of 
eternal   sleep. 

He  was  buried  in  Pere-Lachaise  ;  his  tomb  may 
be  seen  to-day  near  those  of  his  fellow-artists — 
Gretry,  Dupont,  Mehul,  Delille,  Ginguene.  A 
portrait-bust  surmounts  it,  and  his  daughter  lies 
in  the  same  grave.     The  inscription  is  simply  :— 

Garat 

r 

and 
Soubirand  de  Bellegarde.1 


1  An  incorrect  spelling  of  Soubiron,   due   to  the  stone-mason. 
The  number  of  the  grave  is  298,   nth  division. 

353  z 


Pierre  Garat 

At  the  funeral  was  Cherubini.  As  the  body 
was  borne  down  the  staircase  of  the  house  he  was 
heard  to  grumble  :  "  The  invitations  were  for 
twelve  .  .  .  it  is  now  half -past  .  .  .  but  I  might 
have  guessed  as  much.  This  devil  of  a  Garat — 
he's  so  unpunctual,  if  he  said  he'd  be  buried  at 
twelve  he'll  never  turn  up  before  four  o'clock, 
you'll   see." 

His  uncle,  Dominique-Joseph,  has  spoken  a 
kindlier  epitaph  :  "  Never  perhaps  did  a  man  leave 
the  world  at  sixty  years  who  was  guilty  of  so  few 
deceptions,  of  so  little  unkindness.  His  faults  one 
pardoned  ;  they  were  only  singularities,  almost  as 
astonishing  as  his  talents ;  people  laughed  at  the 
one  while  they  admired  the  other." 

And  Jal,  no  unqualified  admirer,  even  in  speak- 
ing of  the  woes  of  Mme.  Contralto,  admits  that 
"  he  was,  after  all,  a  gallant  man.  She  wept  his! 
loss,  and  for  long  wore  mourning." 

A  few  days  after  the  funeral,  at  the  Opera,  there 
was  a  memorial  performance  :  Mme.  Rigaud,  one 
of  Garat's  favourite  pupils,  sang  the  romance 
'Bcllsaire,  which  under  the  Empire  had  been  for- 
bidden. "This  simple,  touching  melody,  sung  by 
that  voice,  so  sweet  and  yet  so  powerful,  dissolved 
the  hearers  in  tears.  The  singer  herself  could  not 
resist  the  general  emotion ;  she  wept  with  the 
rest,   and  could  hardly  finish  the  song. 

There  let  us  leave  him.  He  was  a  man  of  many 
faults  and  many  virtues  ;    and  if,   at   the  term  of 

354 


The  Restoration — The  End 

those  strange  and  moving  years  through  which  he 
lived,  he  was  able  to  die  regretted  and  beloved, 
we  may  say  that  the  virtues  were  indeed  the  greater. 
He  gave  untold  delight  to  a  generation,  and  he 
gave  pain  to  few.  He  was  an  honest  artist  and  a 
gallant  man.     Peace  to  his  dust  ! 


355 


INDEX 


Actors,  bourgeois  contempt  of, 
118  ;  outlaws,  118  ;  subject  to 
the  Gentlemen  of  the  Chamber, 
170 ;  to  the  Commune,  171  ; 
mostly  royalist,  173 

Adour,  River,  23 

Aeronautics,  63-4,  134 

Alexander  I.,  relations  with  Mme. 
de  Kriidener,  281,  290,  296-9 

Alvimare,  326 

Ambign,  riot  at  the,  245-6 

Ami  des  lois,  prohibited,  173-4  5 
vicissitudes  of,  174-6 

Ami  du  peuplc  discovers  a  "con- 
spiracy," 166 

Anarchy,  signs  of,  142  ;  psycho- 
logy of,  143-4,  :49 

Ancien  regime,  manners  of,  66  ; 
morals,  125-7 

Angely,  Mme.  d',  272,  279 

Anglomania,  251 

Army,  untrustworthy,  142 

Arnaud  on  Garat,  95 

Artois,  Comte  d',  75,  84-9,  100, 
112  ;  emigrates,  150  ;  160  ; 
returns,  338 

Assembly,  National,  cowardice  of, 
144,  148 

Auctions  of  National  Property, 
228 

Aulnoy,  Mme.  d',  cited,  49 

Avocats,  Bal  des,  78 

Azevedo,  56,  70,  80,  92,  94-5,  99, 
108,  iio-ii,  112-13,  124 


Bacciochi,  Mme,  275 
Bachaumont    cited,     62-3,   81-2, 

83-7.  95.  IQo 
Baillot,  violinist,  241,  261-2 
Bailly,  171  ;  his  relations  with  the 

Comedians,  172 
Barbezieux,  Young  on,  43 
Barbier,  294-6 

Barbier-Walbonne,  Mme.,  266 
Barras,  16,  234,  237 
Basque  country,  the,  45-8 
Basques,  character  of,   19,  20-1  ; 

dances,   23,   27,  45,  47 ;    music 

and  dances,  47  ;    costumes,  47  ; 

legends,  48 
Bayard,  opera,  damned  by  Garat, 

101 
Bayard,  song  by  Garat,  278 
Bayonne,   23  ;    love  of  music  in, 

48-9 ;  society  of,  50  ;  Young  on,  50 
Beauharnais,  Mme.  de  (see  Joseph- 
ine), 102-3,  237 
Beck  teaches  Garat,  63  ;    benefit 

concert  for,  135 
Bellegarde,  Aurore  de,  313-15 
Bellegarde,     Comtesse     de,     her 

relations  with  Garat,  313-15 
Bellegarde,    Mme.    Soubiron    de, 

Garat's  daughter,  315-16,  353 
Berry,  Conservator  of  Rouen,  204 
Besancon,  the  Parliament  of,  and 

Louis  XVI,  65-6 
Biron,  Due  de,  310 
Biron,  Duchesse  de,  310 


357 


Index 


Black  Prince,  the,  at  Bordeaux,  42 

Blanchard,  aeronaut,  64 

Blangini,  323-5 

Boi'eldieu,  190-2,  194,  196-8,  207, 
215-16,  237,  246,  262,  325,  337 

Boisard,  195 

Bonaparte,  Jerome,  325 

Bonaparte,  Lucien,  237,  275 

Bonaparte,  Madame  Mere,  275-6 

Bonaparte,  Napoleon,  see  Napoleon 

Bonaparte,  Pauline,  325 

Borde,  la,  89-90 

Borde,  La,  89-90 

Bordeaux,  city  of,  19  ;  before  the 
Revolution,  26  ;  in  Roman  times, 
37  ;  wealth  of,  39  ;  Young  on, 
40  ;  theatre  at,  41  ;  opera  at,  54  ; 
Garat  revisits,  122  ;  135  ;  last 
days  of  ancicn  regime  in,  137-9 

Boulogne,  Bois  de,  74-5,  78 

Boulogne,  M.  de,  95 

Bourg,  Mme.  de,  195 

Bourgeoisie,  wealth  and  culture  of, 
39  ;  during  the  Revolution,  143 

Branchu,  Mme.,  248,  333 

Brigandage,  149 

Broche,  organist,  196-7 

Brunswick,  manifesto  of,  188 

Cabbage  and  the  Turnip,  the,  65 
Cagliostro,     69  ;     a     mason     and 

hypnotist,    129-30,    134 
Calonne,  M.  de,  89,  134 
Cambacercs,  278 
Candolle,  166 
Carbonnel,  325 
Carriages,  suspect,  157 
Catherine  of  Russia,  145 
Cavaignac,  236 
Caveau,  the  124-5 
Chamber,  Gentlemen  of  the,  170 
Chambon,  175 
Champcenets,  M.  de,  curious  duel 

of,  133 
Champs  Elysees,  72-3  ;  under  the 
Directoire,  227 


Champville     intercedes     for    the 

Comedians,  176 
Charles,  aeronaut,  64 
Charles  IX,   production    of,    171  ; 

prohibited,   171  ;  demanded  by 

Mirabeau,    171  ;     produced     in 

1791,  172 
Chastenay,  Henri  de,  195 
Chastenay,    Mme.    de,    186,    190, 

194-6,  208,  2i2,  269,  277 
Chateau  Trompette,  at  Bordeaux, 

ruins  Mangin,  40 
Chateaubriand,  66,  275,  284 
Chaumette,  174 
Chenier,    Andre,   in    prison  309 ; 

death  of,  310 
Chenier,  Joseph,  236 
Cherubini,  234,  237,  247,  261,  331, 

354 

Clarissa  Harlowc,  128 

Clery,  Rue  de,  concerts  in  the,  247 

Clouet,  General,  259 

Coliseum,  the,  73 

Collot  d'Herbois,  designs  to 
guillotine   the   Comedians,    176 

Commune,  disputes  with  the  Con- 
vention    concerning     theatres, 

175 
Concert    Feydeau,   the   238,   240-7 
Concerts  Spirituals,  135,  237 
Condorcet,  160 
Condorcet,  Mme.,  311-12 
Conservatoire,     the     French,    15, 

261-4,  31 7,  343-4 
Consulate,  society  under  the,  268- 

7i 
Contat,  Louise  and  Emilie,  176 
Corancey,  236 
Coupigny,  260 
Courtesans,  magnificence  of,  73 

Dances,  Basque,  23,  27 
Dances,  public,  77-8,  249 
Dandy,    Garat's    education    as   a, 

102-6 
Danton  saves  Garat,  102-6 


358 


Index 


Dauberval,  41 

Dazincourt,  176 

Delille,  Abbe,  65,  94,  160,  280 

Delmarc,  191-2 

Dclphine,  285-6 

Derwentwater,  Lord,  revives 
Masonry,  130 

Despotisme  renverse,  173 

Devienne,  262,  323 

Diamond  Necklace,  the,  129,  134 

Diderot,  127 

Directoire,  Paris  under  the,  223-46 

Duchamp,  Mile.,  317  ;  goes  to  live 
with  Garat,  346 ;  his  jealous 
care  of,  346-9,  354 

Dugazon,  94 ;  at  Talma's  recep- 
tion, 165-6,  169-70 ;  denounces 
his  comrades,  172  ;  a  Jacobin, 
177 ;  hunted  off  the  stage,  177 

Dugazon,  Mme.,  becomes  Garat's 
mistress,  63  ;  in  Tom  Jones,  65  ; 
87,  94,  108,  iio-ii,  117;  a 
royalist,  169 ;  risks  her  head, 
169 ;  refuses  to  sing  revolu- 
tionary songs,  170 ;  leaves  the 
Comedians,  173  ;  211,  304-5 

Dumouriez  at  Talma's  reception, 
164-6,  194 

Duthe,  Mile.,  75 

Egalite    (Due   d'Orleans),   74,   95, 

112 
Emigration  of  nobles  commences, 

150 
Emigres     in      Hamburg,     221-2  ; 

return  of,  232 
Entile,  128 

Enghien,  Due  d',  296 
Entraigues,    M.     and     Mme.     d', 

assassination  of,  178-9 
Espagnac,  Abbe  d',  gives  concert 

introducing  Garat,  81-2,  159 
Etchegoyen,  25,  235,  272 

Fabre  d'Eglantine,  176 

Fashions  of  the  ancien  regime,  68  ; 


language  of,  104  ;  before  the 
Revolution,  148 ;  during  the 
Revolution,  159 ;  during  the 
Directoire,  238,  244,  252  ;  a  la 
Garat,  254 ;  a  la  Valerie,  293 

Feydeau,  Concert,  the,  238,  240-6, 
247 

Fickleness,  psychology  of,  300-3 

Filleul,  Mme.,  124 

Fleury,  Duchesse  de,  237  ;  her 
love  affairs,  307-1 1 ;  her  relations 
with  Garat,  312-13 

Fontaine,  297 

Fontette,  Mme.  de,  195 

Foreigner's  Club,  the,  77-8 

Fostermother,     Garat's      musical, 

3i-4 
Fouche,  235,  277 
Fouquier-Tinville,  176 
Freron,  238 
Fronde,  the,  38 
Fusil,  178 

Gallet,  founder  of  the  Caveau,  124 
Garat,    Dominique,  26-7,  30,  87  ; 

disowns  his  son,  99,  117-9,  135  ; 

is  reconciled,  137,  141 
Garat,  Dominique-Joseph,   18,  28, 

58,  88,  131,   158,  257,  264,  277, 

282,  353,  354 
Garat,  Fabry,  30,  333-5,  349,  352 
Garat,  Francisque,  30,  335 
Garat,  Jules,  334 
Garat,  Laurent,  28,  136 
Garat,  Leon,  29 
Garat,  Maltia,  30,   136  ;  the  lover 

of  Mme.  de  Condorcet,  311-12  ; 

of     the    Duchesse    de    Fleury, 

311-12 
Garat,  Manuela,  30 
Garat,  Pierre,  physician,  25 
Garat,  Pierre-Jean,  15-16 ;  his  birth, 

30  ;  early  education,  33-5  ;  music 

forbidden,     35 ;     his    boyhood, 

36-58  ;    life    at    Ustaritz,  45-8  ; 

at  Bayonne,  48-52  ;   returns  to 


359 


Index 


Bordeaux,  53  ;  his  system  of  self- 
training,  54-5  ;  goes  to  Paris  to 
study  law,  58-9 ;  sensation  caused 
by  his  arrival  in  Paris,  79-80  ; 
the  Princesse  de  Lamballe  hears 
him,  81-2  ;  the  Queen  sends  a 
coach  for  him,  82-3 ;  he  sings 
at  Court,  84-7 ;  Mme.  Le  Brun 
on  his  voice,  92-3  ;  he  abandons 
the  law,  98  ;  cut  off  by  his  father, 
99  ;  given  place  and  pension  at 
Court,  99-100  ;  his  education  as 
a  dandy,  102-6;  a  day  in  his 
life,  107-14;  a  further  pension, 
116  ;  debts  paid  by  the  Queen, 
117;  his  life  in  Paris,  122-4; 
champions  Mozart,  124  ;  sings 
at  private  concerts,  124;  a  Mason, 
130-1  ;  revisits  Bordeaux,  135  ; 
sings  at  Beck's  benefit,  136 ; 
reconciled  to  his  father,  137  ; 
left  penniless  when  Artois  emi- 
grates, 150  ;  why  he  avoided 
the  stage,  151  ;  becomes  a  paid 
singer,  151  ;  why  he  was  not 
a  Jacobin,  152-6 ;  at  Talma's 
house  on  the  occasion  of 
Marat's  entry,  165-6 ;  sings  a 
royalist  song,  167  ;  saved  by 
Danton,  167  ;  arrested  by  a  patrol, 
167 ;  sings  himself  free,  168  ; 
leaves  Paris  for  Rouen,  186  ; 
his  first  concert  in  Rouen,  190  ; 
further  concerts,  191-2  ;  refuses 
to  sing  revolutionary  songs,  198  ; 
arrested,  204  ;  in  prison,  204  ; 
a  benefit  concert  held  to  pay 
for  his  meals,  207-8  ;  writes  The 
Troubadour,  210-12  ;  released, 
214  ;  gives  more  concerts,  218-19; 
decides  to  leave  France,  219  ; 
arrives  in  Hamburg,  220  ;  visits 
London  and  other  capitals,  222  ; 
returns  to  Paris,  223  ;  success 
and  high  fees,  234  ;  at  the  Con- 
cert Feydeau,  240-6 ;  his  queue 


cut  off,  244  ;  as  teacher,  248  ;  as 
a  leader  of  the  new  fashions, 
249  ;  a  dancer,  249-50  ;  a  leader 
of  fashion,  254-6 ;  anecdotes, 
258-60  ;  appointed  professor  at 
the  Conservatoire,  261-2 ;  re- 
nounces singing  in  public,  265  ; 
his  last  appearance,  265  ;  at  the 
Opera,  267  ;  life  under  the  Con- 
sulate, 272-3  ;  his  relations  with 
Napoleon,  276-8  ;  is  decorated 
(?),  277  ;  meets  Mme.  de  Kriide- 
ner,  281-2  ;  his  affair  with 
her,  287-91  ;  other  love-affairs, 
300-18  ;  his  children,  315-16  ; 
as  composer,  319-26  ;  as  singer, 
326-8  ;  as  teacher,  328-32  ;  age 
approaches,  338-46  ;  takes  Mile. 
Duchamp  to  live  with  him, 
346-9  ;  the  tragedy  of  the  yellow 
boots,  350-1  ;  death,  353 ;  his 
last  unpunctuality,  354 ;  burial, 

354 
Garat,  Theodore,  335 
Garat,  Theodore,  niece  of  above, 

335 
Garat  family,  the,  23 
Garat  de  Chenoise,  son  of  Pierre- 
Jean,  316 
"  Garatchea,"  25 
Garalism,  16,  252-4 
Genlis,  de,  112 
Genlis,  Mme.  de,  182,  220 
Gerard,  Baron,  343 
Gervais,  57 

Gilibert,  Mme.,  81,  159 
Girondists,  the,  19,  26,  141,  160 
Gluck,  70,  101,  248 
Gluck-Piccini  feud,  the,  66,  70 
Golden  age,  belief  in  a,  128 
Goncourt,  MM.,  cited,  240-2 
Gonteyron,  Mile.,  30 
Gossec,  236,  261 
Grain,  scarcity  of,  183-5,  229 
Grandison,  Sir  Charles,  128 
Gre — ,  Citizen,  mystery  of,  212 


360 


Inde 


x 


Gretry,  62,  70,  80,  112,  236,  261-2 

Greuze,  236 

Grimm,  87 

Grimod  de  la  Reyniere,  90-1 

Griot,  217 

Guibert,  de,  95 

Guizot,  66 

Habeneck,  350 

Hainguerlot,  235 

Hamburg,   Garat's  visit  to,   220  ; 

emigres  in,  220-2 
Hamel,  Mile,  du,  189,  195 
Helo'ise,  La  Nonvelle,  128-9 
Henri  IV  el  Gabrielle,  278 
Herbouville,  Marquis  d',  187,  194 
Hermann,  197 
Holy  Alliance,  the  work  of  Mme. 

de  Kriidener,  298 
Hortense,  Queen,  281,  325 
Hypnotism,   63  ;    possibilities   of, 

130 

Incroyables,  les,  239,  251-2 
Incroyables,  Journal  des,  254 
"Infernal  Machine,"  the,  265-6 
Informers,  149-50 
Illicit  love,  romance  of,  126 
Italian  singers,  the,  100 

Jacobin,  why  Garat  was  not  a, 
152-6 

Jacobins,  psychology  of  the,  143-4  ; 
business  enterprise  of,  149 ; 
psychology  of,  152-5:  weakness 
of,  in  Rouen,  200-2  ;  their  in- 
creased power  in  Rouen,  202 

Jal  cited,  18,  83,  87-8  ;  intercedes 
for  Mile.  Duchamp,  349;  350-1, 

354 

Jardin  des  Plantes,  the,  227 

Jaubert,  280 

Jesuits  seek  to  capture  Free- 
masonry, 130 

Joan,  the  "  Fair  Maid  of  Kent," 
42 


Josephine,  278-9 

Jung-Stilling,  296 

Junot,  259 

Junot,  Mme.,  on  childhood  during 

the    Terror,    147-8  ;    describes 

Garat,  255  ;  258-9,  280 

King's  Comedians,  the,  adventures 
of,  during  the  Revolution,  171  ; 
their  theatre  closed  by  the 
Commune,  175  ;  arrested,  176  ; 
imprisoned,  176 ;  to  be  guillo- 
tined, 176-7  ;  narrow  escape  of, 
177 
Kreutzer,  197,  246,  248,  350 
Kriidener,  Baron  de,  283-6 
Kriidener,  Mme.  de,  273  ;  story  of, 
281-2  ;  her  love-affairs,  283-5  > 
her  relations  with  Garat,  286- 
91 ;  her  relations  with  Napoleon, 
291-6 ;  writes  Valerie,  292-6  ; 
becomes  a  saint,  prophetess, 
and  mentor  to  Alexander  I, 
296-8 ;  prophesies  Napoleon's 
downfall,  297  ;  responsible  for 
the  Holy  Alliance,  298  ;  death 
of,  299 
Kummrin,  Maria,  297 

Labassiere   saves  the  Comedians, 

177 
Lacroix  in  Rouen,  204-5 
Laetitia  Bonaparte,  275-6 
Lafayette,  142 
Lafond,  violinist,  222,  246 
Lafond,    P.,    Garat's    biographer, 

cited,  18,  32,  57,  267 
Lamartine,  29,  38,  335 
Lamballe,     Princesse    de,     hears 

Garat,  81-2  ;  a  Freemason,  132, 

159 
Lambert,  50,  203 
Lampulet,  189 
Lange,  176 
Laplace,  127,  236 
Larrive,  41-2,  94 


36l 


Index 


Lavoisier,  127 

Lays,  264 

Le  Brun,  Mme.  Vigee,  cited,  70 ; 
as  hostess,  92-4, 1 12-14;  foresees 
the  Terror,  145-6;  health  affected 
by  anxieties,  146-7,  307,  313 

Le  Brun-Pindare,  94 

Le  Couteux,  235 

Le  Kain,  94 

Lefevre,  166 

Legendre,  202 

Legros,  80 

Lemercier,  324 

Lesueur,  236-7,  261 

Liancourt,  M.  de,  187 

Lombard,  217 

Longchamps,  descriptions  of,  74- 

7>  2SI"2 
Louchet,  192 
Louis  XVI,   29,   88,    114,    167;  a 

prisoner,  187  ;  news  of  his  death, 

191 
Louis  XVIII,  338 
Louise,  Queen  of  Prussia,  281 
Lubbert,  Emile,  335,  352 

Mably,  127 

Magnetism,  so-called,  64 

Mail,  Mailla,  see  Garat,  Maltia 

Maleix,  Mile.,  217 

Malmaison,  16 

Mangin,  ruin  of,  40  note 

Mara-Todi  feud,  66,  123 

Marat  upbraids  Dumouriez  in 
Talma's  salon,  165-6 

Marie-Antoinette,  16,  64,  68  ;  de- 
sires to  hear  Garat,  80,  81  ; 
sends  a  coach  for  him,  82-3  ; 
her  delight  with  his  voice,  85-6; 
assists  him  financially,  99-100 ; 
her  relations  with  the  singer, 
114;  pays  his  debts,  117;  her 
simple  tastes,  127-8  ;  gossip 
concerning,  134,  141  ;  at  the 
theatre  during  the  Revolution, 
'  69,  336 


Marionettes,  Perici's,  73 

Martin,     150 ;     cuts     off    Garat's 

queue,  243-4 
Martini,  70,  326 
Maury,  Cardinal,  280 
Mehul,  234,  237,  261,  331 
Mesmer,  64 
Metternich,  298 
Miel,  18,  278 

Mimicry,  Garat's  powers  of,  55 
Mirabeau,  66,  171 
Mole,  176 
Monnier,  217 

Montesson,  Mme.  de,  96,235,  272-4 
Montgolfier,  63  ;   despairs   of  the 

Revolution,  148 
Morality    of    the    ancien     regime, 

126-7 
Morris,   Gouverneur,    cited,  61-2, 

144-5,    150;    his    wooden     leg 

saves  his  life,  157,  269 
Mountaineers,   characteristics   of, 

21 
Mozart,  123-4 
Muscadins,   16,  238-9 ;    riot  of,  at 

the    Ambigu,   245-6 ;   at   Long- 
champs,  251-2  ; 
Miinnich,  Marshal,  283 

Nantes,  luxury  of  shipowners  of, 

41 

Napoleon,  273-5  ;  his  relations 
with  Garat,  276-8,  281  ;  with 
Mme.  de  Kriidener,  291,  294-6, 
299 

Narbonne,  L.  de,  159 

National  Guard,  anarchy  of,  142  ; 
in  Rouen,  187-8 

National  Property,  sale  of,  225, 
228 

Naudet,  his  duel  with  Talma, 
171-2 

Necker,  134,  142 

Neuilly,  Comtesse  dc,  182,  221 

Nive,  River,  23 

Noailles,  M.  de,  92 


;62 


Index 


Nobles  renounce  feudal  privileges, 
149;  training  of,  179-80;  stoicism 
of,  180;  manners  of,  180;  their 
bearing  on  the  scaffold,  180  ;  the 
cult  of  simplicity  among,  18 1-2  ; 
charity  of,  182  ;  their  parasitism, 
183  ;  beloved  by  peasantry,  183  ; 
hunted  and  massacred  by,  184 

Nourrit,  a  pupil  of  Garat's,  258, 
332 

Opinion,  public,  psychology  and 

effects  of,  143 
Orfeo,  Gluck's,  56,  138,  191,  276 
Ouvrard,  235,  272 

Pahlen,  concerned  in  assassination 

of  Paul,  285-6 
Palais-Royal,   the,    69 ;    music  in 

garden  of,  70,  93  ;   evenings  in 

garden,      107-8 ;       under      the 

Directoire,  226 
Pamela,     128 ;      suppressed     by 

Commune,    175 
Paole  d'honneu,  men  of  the,  252-4 
Parasites,  121 
Paris  before  the  Revolution,  60-2, 

66  ;  corruption  of,  67-8  ;  end  of 

the    old,    122-34  >     during    the 

Terror,  157;  under  the  Directoire, 

223-46 
Parliament,  advocates  in,  26,  39 
Parliaments,  the  French,  38-9 
Paul,  assassination  of,  285-6 
Pauline,  Borghese,  325 
Peasantry,    roused     by    bourgeois 

demagogues,  184 
Philidor,  62 
Piccini,  62 

Polignac,  Mrae.  de,  84 
Ponchard,  a  pupil  of  Garat's,  333, 

352 
Pradher,  323 
Preville,  176 
Provence,Comte  de  (Louis  XVIII), 

84 


Punto,  57,  80,  136 ;  arrives  in 
Rouen,  164,  196 

Ranelagh,  77-8 

Raucourt,  176 

Recamier,  Mme.,  16,  237,  275 

Republicans   Calendar   abolished, 

249 
Restoration,  the,  337 
Restraint,   social,   psychology   of, 

143-4 

Rethaller,  197 

Revolution,  the,  of  1789,  140-63  ; 
different  aspects  of,  144-5  >  an  act 
of  popular  brigandage,  149,  150 

Richer,  92 

Richter,  Jean-Paul,  285 

Rigaut-Pallard,  Mme.,  352 

Riviere,  de,  94 

Robert,  aeronaut,  64 

Robespierre,  29  ;  his  betrayal  of 
Mme.  Sainte-Amaranthe  and 
family,  160-1, 176, 198  ;  an  anec- 
dote, 334-5 

Rode,  136 ;  leaves  Paris  with 
Garat,  168,  186,  191-3,  196-7 ; 
with  the  army,  204,  207,  209, 
237  ;  a  professor  at  the  Con- 
servatoire, 261 

Rohan,  Cardinal  de,  64,  114,  134 

Rohan-Guemenee,  bankruptcy  of, 

65.  "5 

Roland,  Mme.,  148 
Romances,  popularity  of,  320-3 
Roncherolles,  Chevalier  de,  fights 

a  curious  duel,  133 
Rosiers,  Des,  aeronaut,  63 
Rouen  during  the  Terror,  1 86 ; 
peaceable  state  of,  186-7  >  royal- 
ists in,  188-9  >  strangers  ordered 
to  leave,  202  ;  prisons  in,  203-8  ; 
the   Thennidorean   reaction  in, 

2i3-i5 
Rousseau,  127,  227 
Roussellois,  Mile.,  193  ;  her  love  of 

angling,  193-4,  212,  306 


363 


Index 


Sacchini,  62,  70,  80 
Saint-Georges,  the  Chevalier    de, 

7°>  95-7.  98>  Io8>  IIQ 
Saint-Huberty,  Mile,  de,  56,70,  80, 

136  ;  assassinated,  178-9 
Saint- Pierre,   Bernardin    de,    159, 

284 
Sainte-Amaranthe,  Mme.,  159 
Sainte-Beuve,  286 
Salabery,  Mme.  de,  182 
Salentin,  217 
Salieri,  85-6 
San    Domingo,   the    family   wash 

sent  to,  41 
Sare,  origin  of  the  Garat  family, 

24 
Sarrette  founds  the  Conservatoire, 

261 
Sartiges,  Mme.  de,  tragic  end  of, 

161 
Schneider,  217 
Seguin,  235 
Segur,  Mme.  de,  71 
Sensibility,  127-9 
September,  massacres  of,  166 
Seven  Sisters,  Lodge  of  the,  13 1-2 
Silhouettes,  in  Tuileries  gardens, 

72 
Singing,  Royal  College  of,  261 
Societe  de  Musee,  the,  Bordeaux, 

57,  136 
Songs  by  Garat,  321-6 
Soprani,  male,  123 
Soubervielle       on       Robespierre, 

334-5  note 
Soubiron,  Paulin,  315 
Soubiron    de    Bellegarde,    Mme., 

daughter  of  P.-J.  Garat,  315-16, 

353 
Stael,  Mme.  de,  159,  273,  285-6,  294 
Stakiev,  de,  283-5 
Steibelt,  274 
Stourdza,  Mile.,  297 
Suard,  282 


Talleyrand,  66,  257,  272,  315 


Tallien,  16,  236 

Tallien,  Mme.  (Teresa  Cabarrus), 
234-7,  249-50,  279-80 

Talma,  94  ;  Marat  visits  his  house, 
164-5,  170-1  ;  his  duel  with 
Naudet,  171-2;  dismissed  by 
the  King's  Comedians,  but  rein- 
stated, 172  ;  leaves  the  Come- 
dians, 173  ;  accused  of  treachery, 
178,  280 

Talma,  Mme.,  164 

Taxes,  pie-Revolutionary,  183-4 

Teacher,  Garat  as,  261-2 

Temple,  Boulevard  du,  72-3 

Terror,  the,  commences  in  pro- 
vinces in,  1789, 149  ;  life  during 
the,  159 

Theatre  de  la  Republique,  173 

Theatre,  Francais,  173 

Theatre  National,  175 

Theatre,  the,  during  the  Revolu- 
tion, 170-8 

Theodore,  Mile.,  41 

Thermidor,  213 

Thibaudeau  cited,  148 

Thiebault  cited,  61,  67,  75-7, 
96-7,  128-9,  J6o,  209 

Third  Estate,  the,  192 

Tide-mill  at  Bordeaux,  42 

Todi,  92 

Tom  'Jones  in  London,  65 

Trcilhard,  257-8 

Trenis,  249-50 

Trial,  141  ;  suicide  of,  178 

Trianon,  private  theatre  at  the, 
1 14-15 

fuileries,  the,  16,  71-2  ;  under  the 
Directoire,  227 

Ustaritz,  23-4 

Valerie,  285-6,  292-4 

Vaudreuil,  de,  Director  of  House- 
hold to  Marie-Antoinette,  88-9 ; 
appoints  Garat  secretary  to 
Artois,  99-100  ;  112,  160 


364 


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